Rubric
(from the Latin rubrīca, “red ochre,” or “vermilion”). An ordinance or law was by the Romans called a rubric, because it was written with vermilion, in contradistinction to prætorian edicts or rules of the court, which were posted on a white ground. (Juvenal, xiv. 192.)
“Rubrīca vetāvit” = the law has forbidden it. (Persius, v. 99.)
“Prætõres edicta sua in albo proponebant, ac rubrīcas [i.e. jus civile] translalērunt.”—Quintilian, xii. 3, 11.
“Rules and orders directing how, when, and where all things in divine service are to be performed were formerly printed in red characters (now generally in italics), and called rubrics.”—Hook: Church Dictionary.
