 Excommunicated persons may seek rescripts only in relation to the cause of their excommunication or in cases of appeal.Consequently, in rescripts absolution from penalties and censures is first given, as far as necessary for the validity of the grant.Rescripts have the force of a particular law, i. e. only for the persons concerned; only occasionally, e. g. when they interpret or promulgate a general law, are they of universal application.