1. Guided by the spirit of the Gospel and with its foundations in the Rule of St Augustine, our Order is ruled by all the laws of the Church and the decrees and privileges which apply to us (see Appendix n. 14), and also by the following:
   1. the constitutions of the Order;
   2. ordinations found either in the Book of Constitutions and Ordinations, or in the acts of general chapters;
   3. the ordinations of the Master of the Order;
   4. legitimate customs.
2. Whenever the word ‘constitution’ is used in our legislation, it bears a strict meaning applicable only to constitutions properly so called; however, the words ‘our laws’ or ‘our legislation’ indicate both constitutions and ordinations (see Appendix n. 1).

1. Assignation is the appointment of a brother to a province or to a specific convent with all rights and obligations unless it is clearly stated otherwise.
2. Assignation is either direct (simply made), or indirect by reason of office or of studies.
3. Assignation outside one’s own province for the purpose of study does not entitle one to a vote in elections. The prior provincial of the province of assignation, with the previous consent of the prior provincial of the province of affiliation, determines other rights and obligations of the brother assigned by reason of study, without prejudice to n. 208.
4. Assignation by reason of office applies only to superiors; that made by reason of study applies only to students outside their province.
5. Every brother needs a direct assignation to a specific convent from the time of first profession, which assignation of itself has no time limit. An indirect assignation lasts only for as long as the office. As for the duration of an indirect assignation by reason of study, that is determined by the prior provincial of the province of assignation, with the consent of the prior provincial of the province of affiliation. During the time of indirect assignment, the previous direct assignment remains inactive; when the time of indirect assignation has elapsed, the direct, or simple, assignation revives.

Every brother must be enrolled in a province. This enrolment, which happens when he begins his novitiate, is called affiliation.

The brethren are incorporated into the Order by first profession.

1. To establish or to suppress a convent, legal provisions having been observed (see CCL. 609-612; 616), the following are required:
   1. a petition by the provincial chapter, setting out the reasons;
   2. approval by the Master of the Order;
   3. a decree by the Master of the Order, given in writing, for validity.
2. If it is a question of transferring or re-establishing a convent in the same city, the decision of the prior provincial with the consent of his council suffices.
3. A province is not permitted to establish a convent within the territory of another, except with the consent of the Master of the Order and of the council of the province in which it is proposed to make a foundation.

1. In our legislation the word convent is understood to refer to a community which has at least six brothers assigned and habitually living there, of whom five enjoy active voting rights and at least four are priests. 
   A community which does not meet these conditions is called a house.
2. Whatever is said of convents is also valid for houses, unless otherwise expressly stated.

1. If, for a period of three years, a province does not have three convents or thirty-five voters assigned in that province and habitually living there, the Master of the Order, having consulted his council, shall declare that it no longer enjoys the right to take part in general chapters as a province and shall reduce it to a vice-province or general vicariate in accordance with n. 257, unless a general chapter has already been convoked.
2. When a province which had been reduced to a vice-province as provided for in § I, shall once again, for a period of three years, have the necessary conditions, the Master of the Order must declare that it enjoys all its rights as a province.
3. In regions where, because of adverse circumstances, a provincial chapter cannot be held, the Master of the Order, with the consent of his council, may provide for its equitable representation at the general chapter.

I.

1. The Master of the Order, with the consent of his council, may establish a vice-province. It ought to have, in the territory assigned to it, two convents properly so called and twenty-five voters; furthermore, it should be able to provide from its own resources so that it may have the conditions for the stability of the new province to be established.
2. A vice-provincial presides as major superior over a vice-province; he is elected by the chapter of the vice-province. A vice-province has the obligations and rights of a province.

II. In a territory where there is no province or vice-province, and where there are local needs or a well-founded hope of making a permanent foundation of the Order, the Master of the Order may, with the consent of his council, erect a general vicariate with specific territory. He must first have consulted the brothers due to be assigned to the vicariate and the council of the relevant province. The statues by which the general vicariate is governed shall be prepared by the vicariate and approved by the Master of the Order and his council.
In this case, after the brothers of the vicariate have been consulted, a vicar general is appointed, in the first instance, by the Master of the Order for four years.
Relations between this general vicariate and other vicariates which may exist in the same place shall be determined according to n. 395.

It is for a general chapter or for the Master of the Order with his council to establish provinces, to divide them, to unite one with another, or to suppress them.

Every province has the right:

1. to accept as its sons those who commence the novitiate with a view to joining it;
2. to provide suitably for the formation of its brothers, and, provided the necessary conditions are present, to have its own novitiate and centre of institutional studies;
3. to hold provincial chapters;
4. to take part in general chapters.