Roman laws on the Collegia illicita, the first source of which is the Roman conception of religion, the political and practical use of augurs, auspices and sacred fowls .-- It is interesting to trace the long life and survivorship of this important idea from antiquity down to the present day; it reappears in the Concordat and in the Organic Articles of 1801, and still later in the late decrees dissolving unauthorized communities and closing the convents of men .-- French jurists, and in particular Napoleon's jurists, are profoundly imbued with the Roman idea.

Portalis, in his exposition of the motives for establishing metropolitan seminaries (March 14, 1804), supports the decree with Roman law.

"The Roman laws," he says, "place every thing concerning the cult in the class of matters which belong essentially to public rights."] [Footnote 5145: Thibaudeau, p.152.] [Footnote 5146: "Discours, rapports et travaux sur le Concordat de 1801," by Portalis, p.87 (on the Organic Articles), p.29 (on the organization of cults).

"The ministers of religion must not pretend to share in or limit public power....

Religious affairs have always been classed by the different national codes among matters belonging to the upper police department of the State...