Mr. Markov said the Prime Minister would be relieved of his duties because of a law that forbids officials from simultaneously serving in Parliament.

Mr. Gray said he was unaware of a White House policy that forbade officials from serving on company boards and that limited their outside earned income.

Judge Gershon cited a long line of legal precedents that forbid public officials to use their control of government funds to punish unpopular or offensive speech.

Mr. Pataki says their participation was an oversight and that his policy has been to forbid top officials to raise money.

More important, the pope forbade ecclesiastical officials under pain of excommunication to support Henry as they had so freely done in the past.

He would forbid elected officials and other state executives from lobbying the government for three years after leaving office.

State confidentiality laws forbid officials to talk about child-abuse cases, providing handy cover for bureaucratic bungling.

The increase is striking because the campaign finance law enacted in 2002 now forbids federal elected officials and candidates from operating their own 527 groups.

State election law also forbids elected officials like Mr. Roberts to control or serve as officers of continuing political action committees.

A Chock Full o'Nuts spokesman says the purchases did not violate securities laws that forbid corporate officials to trade on the basis of nonpublic information.