in matters of policy, an order or instrument, signed and sealed by a prince, to serve as a law to his subjects. We find frequent mention of the edicts of the praetor, the ordinances of that officer in the Roman law. In the French law, the edicts are of several kinds: some importing a new law or regulation; others, the erection of new offices; establishments of duties, rents, &c.; and sometimes articles of pacification. In France, edicts are much the same as a proclamation is with us: but with this difference, that the former have the authority of a law in themselves, from the power which issues them forth; whereas the latter are only declarations of a law, to which they refer, and have no power in themselves.