What was the process for laicization pre-Vatican II

[Young_Thinker]

Or rather before Paul VI streamlined the process for bishops to dispense priests of their faculties (in 1968, I think)? Before 1968, the only priest I know about being laicized in the 20th century was Malachi Martin, who apparently request to leave the Jesuits early in 1965 and was apparently relieved of the priesthood and all his vows except celibacy later that year (i.e. the information gets kind of murky about Martin’s clerical state-he claimed to have been incardinated into a diocese as a priest after leaving the Society, but no resources seem to support his claim). Did priests just write a letter to the Pope or to the father superior of their order before 1968?

 

[bardegaulois]

The answer would be found in the 1917 Code of Canon Law. I can only find a Latin text online, so if you want to read it in translation, you’d need either to buy it or find it in a library.