Definition
A dispensation—historically granted by papal or ecclesiastical authority—permitting a clerk or clergyman to hold a benefice or perform an ecclesiastical function despite being technically incapable or defective in some canonical qualification required for that position. The dispensation operated to validate what would otherwise be a legally defective admission, treating the clerk's tenure as if he were fully qualified (perinde valere meaning, roughly, "to be of equal force" or "to avail equally").
In English ecclesiastical law after the Reformation, the dispensing power that had belonged to the papacy was transferred by statute to domestic authority. A perinde valere thus became a formal instrument issued under that domestic authority—or claimed under it—to cure canonical defects in a clerk's capacity to hold a benefice.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in pre-modern English ecclesiastical law sources and canon law materials. Researchers encountering it are almost certainly working in one of three contexts: (1) pre-Reformation disputes over papal dispensations affecting English benefices; (2) the Henrician reforms, particularly the period following 25 Hen. VIII c. 21, which restructured the dispensing power formerly exercised by Rome; or (3) treatises and case materials in ecclesiastical courts dealing with the validity of a clerk's institution or induction to a living.
The critical navigational point is that the term collapses two distinct concepts—the substantive defect in capacity and the instrument that cures it—into a single phrase. In some sources, perinde valere refers to the dispensation itself as a document; in others, it describes the legal effect conferred by that document. Bouvier's and Rapalje's entries reflect this slight divergence, with Bouvier's emphasizing the writ or instrument and Black's emphasizing the dispensing event.
Researchers using historical ecclesiastical records or Gibson's Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani (the "Gibs." cited across all source dictionaries) will find the fullest treatment there. Burn's Ecclesiastical Law, cited by Bouvier's, also provides procedural context for how the dispensation was sought and recorded in English church administration.
This term is effectively dormant in modern legal practice. Its appearance in a contemporary document or pleading would be anomalous and would almost certainly indicate either antiquarian research, an ecclesiastical law specialist, or a historical dispute over church property or office.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition, all deriving substantially from Cowell's Interpreter—a consistent citation chain that signals the term's deep roots in early modern English legal lexicography. The shared reliance on Cowell and Gibson confirms that this was never a common law term proper but rather a specialized ecclesiastical borrowing documented by law dictionaries for completeness.
Bouvier's entry adds a dimension the Black's entries omit: it explicitly identifies the papal origin of the instrument ("a writ of dispensation granted by the pope"), which is historically accurate for the pre-Reformation period and important for understanding how the term functioned before the break with Rome. Black's and Rapalje's entries are more neutral on the source of authority, reflecting the post-Reformation context in which English ecclesiastical law had absorbed and domesticated the dispensing function.
Rapalje's entry is the most precise for research purposes, citing both Gibson and the Henrician statute (25 Hen. VIII c. 21), giving researchers a statutory anchor for tracing the transformation of this instrument in English law.
None of the historical dictionaries address whether the dispensation was subject to challenge in the common law courts or only in the ecclesiastical courts—a question that would have been practically significant and that researchers in jurisdictional disputes between common law and ecclesiastical courts may need to pursue through primary sources.
Jurisdictional Note
Perinde valere belongs to English ecclesiastical law and canon law. It has no recognized counterpart in American law and would not appear in American legal materials outside of historical or comparative contexts. Researchers in Scots law or Irish ecclesiastical history may encounter the term but should verify the applicable domestic statutory framework, which differed from the English.