Grand Cross, and, as such, entitled to seats in the Chapter-General of
the Order.

The supreme control of the Order was vested in the Chapter-General,
consisting of all the Knights Grand Cross. Though these
Chapters-General were often convened in the early history of the
Order, their difficulty of assembly and their clumsy method of
procedure made them less and less frequently summoned, as the Grand
Master had it in his power to convoke it when he pleased, though an
interval of five years--later extended to ten--had been sanctioned
by custom. In the seventeenth century the institution fell into utter
disuse, and there was no meeting of the Chapter-General from 1631 to
1776, when its uselessness was finally demonstrated.

When the Chapter-General was not sitting the government of the Order
was carried on by the Grand Master and the Councils, known as the
Ordinary, Complete, Secret, and Criminal. The Ordinary Council
consisted of the Grand Master, the conventual bailiffs, together with
any Grand Cross residing at the Convent. This Council, as its name
indicates, transacted the ordinary business of government, which
mainly consisted of appointing to these offices and making those
arrangements which were not definitely assigned to the Grand Master
himself. The Secret and Criminal Councils, respectively, dealt with
foreign affairs and offences against the Statutes, while the Complete,
consisting of the Ordinary Council with the addition of two Knights
from each langue of more than five years' residence at the Convent,
dealt with appeals from the other Councils. In the later days of the
Order the pernicious practice of appealing to the Pope destroyed all
semblance of authority in this Council.