Canon law of the Catholic Church

Canon law () is the system of religious laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church.Della Rocca, Manual of Canon Law, p. 3Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, p. 771: "Ius canonicum"

It is the first modern Western legal systemBerman, Harold J. Law and Revolution, pp. 86, 115 and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West,Raymond Wacks, Law: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Ed. (Oxford University Press, 2015) p. 13. while the unique traditions of Eastern Catholic canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches .

Positive ecclesiastical laws, based directly or indirectly upon immutable divine law or natural law, derive formal authority in the case of universal laws from promulgation by the supreme legislator—the supreme pontiff, who possesses the totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power in his person,Canon 331 , 1983 Code of Canon Law or by the College of Bishops acting in communion with the pope. In contrast, particular laws derive formal authority from promulgation by a legislator inferior to the supreme legislator, whether an ordinary or a delegated legislator. The actual subject material of the canons is not just doctrinal or moral in nature, but all-encompassing of the human condition.

The canon law of the Catholic Church has all the ordinary elements of a mature legal system: laws, courts, lawyers, judges.Edward N. Peters, "A Catechist's Introduction to Canon Law" , CanonLaw.info, accessed June-11-2013 The canon law of the Catholic Church is articulated in the legal code for the Latin ChurchManual of Canon Law, p. 49 as well as a code for the Eastern Catholic Churches. This canon law has principles of legal interpretation, and coercive penalties.St. Joseph Foundation newsletter, Vol. 30 No. 7 , p. 3 It lacks civilly-binding force in most secular jurisdictions. Those who are versed and skilled in canon law, and professors of canon law, are called canonistsVere & Trueman, Surprised by Canon Law [volume 1], 2004, p. 3Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, p. 187: "Canonist" (or colloquially, canon lawyersBerman, Law and Revolution, p. 288). Canon law as a sacred science is called canonistics.

The jurisprudence of canon law is the complex of legal principles and traditions within which canon law operates, while the philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law are the areas of philosophical, theological, and legal scholarship dedicated to providing a theoretical basis for canon law as a legal system and as true law.

Definitions

The term "canon law" (ius canonicum) was only regularly used from the twelfth century onwards.Berman, Law and Revolution, p. 202. The term ius ecclesiasticum, by contrast, referred to the secular law, whether imperial, royal, or feudal, that dealt with relations between the state and the Catholic Church. The term corpus iuris canonici was used to denote canon law as legal system beginning in the thirteenth century.Berman, Law and Revolution, p. 253

Other terms sometimes used synonymously with ius canonicum include ius sacrum, ius ecclesiasticum, ius divinum, and ius pontificium,Smith, Elements of Ecclesiastical Law, Vol. I (9th ed.), p. 9. Internet Archive, accessed 28 March 2016. as well as sacri canones (sacred canons).

is the positive law that emanates from the legislative power of the Catholic Church in its effort to govern its members in accordance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.Rev. James Socias (gen. edit.), Our Moral Life in Christ. (Chicago: Midwest Theological Forum, 2003), 84. Fernando della Rocca used the term "ecclesiastical-positive law" in contradistinction to civil-positive law, in order to differentiate between the human legislators of church and state, all of which issue "positive law" in the normal sense.Della Rocca, Fernando, Manual of Canon Law (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1959) trans. The Rev. Anselm Thatcher, O.S.B., p. 9.

Examples of ecclesiastical positive law are fasting during the liturgical season of Lent, and religious workers (monks, nuns, etc.) requiring permission from their superiors to publish a book.Canon 832 as found in https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2Q.HTM

Etymology of "canon"

The word "canon" comes from the Greek kanon, which in its original usage denoted a straight rod, was later used for a measuring stick, and eventually came to mean a rule or norm.Berman, Law and Revolution, p. 199 In 325, when the first ecumenical council, Nicaea I, was held, kanon started to obtain the restricted juridical denotation of a law promulgated by a synod or ecumenical council, as well as that of an individual bishop.

Sources of canon law

The term source or fountain of canon law (fons iuris canonici) may be taken in a twofold sense: a) as the formal cause of the existence of a law, and in this sense of the fontes essendi (Latin: "sources of being") of canon law or lawgivers; b) as the material channel through which laws are handed down and made known, and in this sense the sources are styled fontes cognoscendi (Latin: "sources of knowing"), or depositaries, like sources of history.A Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law by the Rev. P. Chas. Augustine O.S.B., D.D., Volume I: Introduction and General Rules (can. 1–86), SECOND EDITION (St. Louis: B. HERDER BOOK CO., 1918).

Legal history and codification

The Catholic Church has the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West, much later than Roman law but predating the evolution of modern European civil law traditions. What began with rules ("canons") said to have been adopted by the Apostles at the Council of Jerusalem in the first century has developed into a highly complex legal system encapsulating not just norms of the New Testament, but some elements of the Hebrew (Old Testament), Roman, Visigothic, Saxon, and Celtic legal traditions. As many as 36 collections of canon law are known to have been brought into existence before 1150.Mylne, The Canon Law, p. 22.

The history of Latin canon law can be divided into four periods: the ius antiquum, the ius novum, the ius novissimum and the Codex Iuris Canonici.Manual of Canon Law, p. 13, #8 In relation to the Code, history can be divided into the ius vetus (all law before the 1917 Code) and the ius novum (the law of the code, or ius codicis).

The Eastern Catholic canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches, which had developed some different disciplines and practices, underwent its own process of codification, resulting in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches promulgated in 1990 by Pope John Paul II.Saint John Paul II, Ap. Const. Sacri Canones

St. Raymond of Penyafort (1175–1275), a Spanish Dominican priest, is the patron saint of canonists,Vere & Trueman, Surprised by Canon Law, p. 2.Edward N. Peters, CanonLaw.info Home Page , accessed June-11-2013 due to his important contributions to canon law in codifying the Decretales Gregorii IX. Other saintly patrons include St. Ivo of Chartres and the Jesuit St. Robert Bellarmine.

Ius antiquum

The period of canonical history known as the ius antiquum ("ancient law") extends from the foundation of the Church to the time of Gratian (mid-12th century).Wigmore, Panorama, p. 951 This period can be further divided into three periods: the time of the apostles to the death of Pope Gelasius I (A.D. 496), the end of the 5th century to the spurious collection of the 9th century, and the last up to the time of Gratian (mid-12th century).Manual of Canon Law, p. 14

In the Early Church, the first canons were decreed by bishops united in "Ecumenical" councils (the Emperor summoning all of the known world's bishops to attend with at least the acknowledgement of the Bishop of Rome) or "local" councils (bishops of a region or territory). Over time, these canons were supplemented with decretals of the Bishops of Rome, which were responses to doubts or problems according to the maxim, "Roma locuta est, causa finita est" ("Rome has spoken, the case is closed"). A common misconception, the Catholic Encyclopedia links this saying to St Augustine who actually said something quite different: "jam enim de hac causa duo concilia missa sunt ad sedem apostolicam; inde etiam rescripta venerunt; causa finita est" (which roughly translate to: "there are two councils, for now, this matter as brought to the Apostolic See, whence also letters are come to pass, the case was finished") in response to the heretical Pelagianism of the time.

In the first millennium of the Latin Church, the canons of various ecumenical and local councils were supplemented with decretals of the popes; these were gathered together into collections.

Ius novum

The period of canonical history known as the Ius novum ("new law") or middle period covers the time from Gratian to the Council of Trent (mid-12th century–16th century).

The spurious conciliar canons and papal decrees were gathered together into collections, both unofficial and official. In the year 1000, there was no book that had attempted to summarize the whole body of canon law, to systematize it in whole or in part.Law and Revolution, p. 116 The first truly systematic collection was assembled by the Camaldolese monk Gratian in the 11th century, commonly known as the ("Gratian's Decree") but originally called The Concordance of Discordant CanonsLaw and Revolution, p. 240 (Concordantia Discordantium Canonum). Before Gratian there was no "jurisprudence of canon law" (system of legal interpretation and principles). Gratian is the founder of canonical jurisprudence, which merits him the title "Father of Canon Law".Kenneth J. Pennington, Ph.D., CL701, CUA School of Canon Law, "History of Canon Law, Day 1" , around 0:25:30, accessed 8-15-2014 Gratian also had an enormous influence on the history of natural law in his transmission of the ancient doctrines of natural law to Scholasticism.Rommen, Natural Law, pp. 38–39

Canon law greatly increased from 1140 to 1234. After that, it slowed down, except for the laws of local councils (an area of canon law in need of scholarship), and secular laws supplemented.The New York Times, Neighbors and Wives book review of Nov-13-1988, accessed 27 June 2013 In 1234 Pope Gregory IX promulgated the first official collection of canons, called the Decretalia Gregorii Noni or Liber Extra. This was followed by the Liber Sextus (1298) of Boniface VIII, the Clementines (1317) of Clement V, the Extravagantes Joannis XXII and the Extravagantes Communes, all of which followed the same structure as the Liber Extra. All these collections, with the , are together referred to as the Corpus Iuris Canonici. After the completion of the Corpus Iuris Canonici, subsequent papal legislation was published in periodic volumes called Bullaria.

In the thirteenth century, the Roman Church began to collect and organize its canon law, which after a millennium of development had become a complex and difficult system of interpretation and cross-referencing. The official collections were the Liber Extra (1234) of Pope Gregory IX, the Liber Sextus (1298) of Boniface VIII and the Clementines (1317), prepared for Clement V but published by John XXII. These were addressed to the universities by papal letters at the beginning of each collection, and these texts became textbooks for aspiring canon lawyers. In 1582 a compilation was made of the Decretum, Extra, the Sext, the Clementines, and the Extravagantes (that is, the decretals of the popes from Pope John XXII to Pope Sixtus IV).

Ius novissimum