The slogan Cuius regio eius religio (whose the region, his the religion) was coined at the beginning of the 17th century by the jurist J. Stephani (1544–1623) to describe the right that the Peace of Augsburg (1555) granted to secular rulers to determine the confession that would be binding on all their subjects. This principle thus transferred to Protestant rulers both spiritual jurisdiction and episcopal power (Bishop, Episcopate) along the lines of Episcopalianism.

In a broader sense the formula formed part of the ius reformandi that traditionalists brought to the Augsburg de…