rescript

"'In order that the people may know of my decision, I request you to prepare at once an imperial rescript that I may broadcast to the nation.'"

Decretals... ought, properly speaking, to be distinguished, on the one hand from constitutions... enacted by the Pope sua sponte without reference to any particular case, and on the other hand from rescripts... which apply only to special circumstances or individuals, and constitute no general precedent. But this nomenclature is not strictly observed.