Page:A Catalogue of Graduates who have Proceeded to Degrees in the University of Dublin, vol. 2.djvu/26

XX INTRODUCTION. 1 614, and liis ro-appninf merit, a. 11. 161 7. In both instances he was appointed by the rrovost and Fellows. The former of these was made and confirmed in the same form as the election of the Chancellor, a.d. 1612.* Thns we liave the ' contemporanea expositio, qnto est op- tima' ; and this was adopted by the framers of the Charter of Kim? Charles I. It is, at the least, reconcilable with (if not required by) the grammatical construction of the whole passage as it stands in the Charter of Queen Elizabeth. It may be ad- mitted that the sfiah'osi of the College are to be regarded as de- pendent members of the University, having inchoate privileges and rights of protection. But, however they may stand in re- lation to the corporate body of the University, their right to appoint any of the University officers is a different question. " It may seem strange," says Dr. Todd, " and to modern ideas it is strange, that the nomination and election of officers of so much importance as the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors should have been committed to the general body of the University, consisting of all graduates, and even of matriculated under- graduates. But this is quite consistent with the ancient notion of a University, and is an evident proof that all matriculated students, as well as the graduates, were regarded as members of the University in the sense that has been explained " (p. xxiii.). He cites from Halmagrand (p. 67) a passage, in which it is said, as to the University of Paris, that " the Eector, who was supreme governor, and chief president of all the faculties, was chosen by the lowest of them all, the faculty of arts, which included under- graduates." With reference to the University of Paris, the authority of Savigny is distinct, and ought to be decisive. In the passage to which I have already referred, in which he contrasts the con- stitution of the Universities of Paris and of Bologna, he says "there is found from the earliest time a remarkable contrast. In Paris the corporation consists of all the teachers ; these are Note C, p. XXX.