Canon law (fromAncient Greek:κανών,kanon, a 'straight measuring rod,ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made byecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members.[1]
In the fourth century, theFirst Council of Nicaea (325) calls canons the disciplinary measures of the church: the term canon, κανὠν, means in Greek, a rule. There is a very early distinction between the rules enacted by the church and the legislative measures taken by the state calledleges, Latin for laws.[7]
In theCatholic Church,canon law is the system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by thechurch's hierarchical authorities to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the church.[10] It was the first modern Westernlegal system[11] and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West.[12][13]
In theLatin Church, positive ecclesiastical laws, based directly or indirectly upon immutable divine law ornatural law, derive formal authority in the case of universal laws from the supreme legislator (i.e., theSupreme Pontiff), who possesses the totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power in his person,[14] while particular laws derive formal authority from a legislator inferior to the supreme legislator. The actual subject material of the canons is not just doctrinal or moral in nature, but all-encompassing of the human condition,[15] and therefore extending beyondwhat is taken as revealed truth.
TheCatholic Church also includes the main five rites (groups) of churches which are in full union with theHoly See and the Latin Church:
TheCatholic Church has what is claimed to be the oldest continuously functioning internal legal system inWestern Europe,[17] much later thanRoman law but predating the evolution of modern Europeancivil law traditions.
The history of Latin canon law can be divided into four periods: thejus antiquum, thejus novum, thejus novissimum and theCode of Canon Law.[18] In relation to the Code, history can be divided into thejus vetus (all law before the Code) and thejus novum (the law of the Code, orjus codicis).[18]
Roman Catholic canon law is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code,[20] principles of legal interpretation, and coercive penalties, though it lacks civilly-binding force in most secular jurisdictions. One example where conflict between secular and canon law occurred was in the English legal system, as well as systems, such as the U.S., thatderived from it. Here criminals could apply for thebenefit of clergy. Being in holy orders, or fraudulently claiming to be, meant that criminals could opt to be tried byecclesiastical rather than secular courts. The ecclesiastical courts were generally more lenient. Under theTudors, the scope of clerical benefit was steadily reduced byHenry VII,Henry VIII, andElizabeth I. The papacy disputed secular authority over priests' criminal offenses. The benefit of clergy was systematically removed from English legal systems over the next 200 years, although it still occurred in South Carolina in 1855.[21]In English Law, the use of this mechanism, which by that point was alegal fiction used for first offenders, was abolished by theCriminal Law Act 1827.
The academic degrees in Catholic canon law are the J.C.B. (Juris Canonici Baccalaureatus, Bachelor of Canon Law, normally taken as a graduate degree), J.C.L. (Juris Canonici Licentiatus,Licentiate of Canon Law) and the J.C.D. (Juris Canonici Doctor,Doctor of Canon Law). Because of its specialized nature, advanced degrees in civil law or theology are normal prerequisites for the study of canon law.
Much of Catholic canon law's legislative style was adapted from the RomanCode of Justinian. As a result, Roman ecclesiastical courts tend to follow theRoman Law style of continental Europe with some variation, featuring collegiate panels of judges and an investigative form of proceeding, called "inquisitorial", from the Latin "inquirere", to enquire. This is in contrast to theadversarial form of proceeding found in the common law system of English and U.S. law, which features such things as juries and single judges.
The institutions and practices of Catholic canon law paralleled the legal development of much of Europe, and consequently, both moderncivil law andcommon law bear the influences of canon law. As Edson Luiz Sampel, a Brazilian expert in Catholic canon law, says, canon law is contained in the genesis of various institutes of civil law, such as the law in continental Europe and Latin American countries. Indirectly, canon law has significant influence in contemporary society.[22]
The law of theEastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Roman papacy was in much the same state as that of the Latin Church before 1917; much more diversity in legislation existed in the various Eastern Catholic Churches. Each had its own special law, in which custom still played an important part. One major difference in Eastern Europe however, specifically in the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, was in regards to divorce. Divorce started to slowly be allowed in specific instances such as adultery being committed, abuse, abandonment, impotence, and barrenness being the primary justifications for divorce. Eventually, the church began to allow remarriage to occur (for both spouses) post-divorce.[2] In 1929 Pius XI informed the Eastern Churches of his intention to work out a Code for the whole of the Eastern Church. Thepublication of these Codes for the Eastern Churches regarding the law of persons was made between 1949 through 1958[26] but finalized nearly 30 years later.[7]
TheEastern Orthodox Church, principally through the work of 18th-centuryAthonite monastic scholarNicodemus the Hagiorite, has compiled canons and commentaries upon them in a work known as thePēdálion (Ancient Greek:Πηδάλιον, 'Rudder'), so named because it is meant to "steer" the church in her discipline. The dogmatic determinations of the Councils are to be applied rigorously since they are considered to be essential for the church's unity and the faithful preservation of the Gospel.[29]
In theChurch of England, theecclesiastical courts that formerly decided many matters such as disputes relating to marriage, divorce, wills, and defamation, still have jurisdiction of certain church-related matters (e.g. discipline of clergy, alteration of church property, and issues related to churchyards). Their separate status dates back to the 12th century when theNormans split them off from the mixed secular/religious county and local courts used by the Saxons. In contrast to the other courts of England, the law used in ecclesiastical matters is at least partially acivil law system, notcommon law, although heavily governed by parliamentary statutes. Since theReformation, ecclesiastical courts in England have been royal courts. The teaching of canon law at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge was abrogated byHenry VIII; thereafter practitioners in theecclesiastical courts were trained incivil law, receiving aDoctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) degree fromOxford, or a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree fromCambridge. Such lawyers (called "doctors" and "civilians") were centered at "Doctors Commons", a few streets south ofSt Paul's Cathedral in London, where they monopolizedprobate, matrimonial, andadmiralty cases until their jurisdiction was removed to thecommon law courts in the mid-19th century.
In 2002 a Legal Advisors Consultation meeting at Canterbury concluded:
(1) There are principles of canon law common to the churches within the Anglican Communion; (2) Their existence can be factually established; (3) Each province or church contributes through its own legal system to the principles of canon law common within the Communion; (4) these principles have strong persuasive authority and are fundamental to the self-understanding of each of the member churches; (5) These principles have a living force, and contain within themselves the possibility for further development; and (6) The existence of the principles both demonstrates and promotes unity in the Communion.[30]
In Presbyterian and Reformed churches, canon law is known as "practice and procedure" or "church order", and includes the church's laws respecting its government, discipline, legal practice, and worship.
Roman canon law had been criticized by the Presbyterians as early as 1572 in theAdmonition to Parliament. The protest centered on the standard defense that canon law could be retained so long as it did not contradict the civil law. According to Polly Ha, the Reformed church government refuted this, claiming that the bishops had been enforcing canon law for 1500 years.[31]
TheBook of Concord is the historicdoctrinal statement of theLutheran Church, consisting of tencredal documents recognized as authoritative inLutheranism since the 16th century.[32] However, the Book of Concord is a confessional document (stating orthodox belief) rather than a book of ecclesiastical rules or discipline, like canon law. Each Lutheran national church establishes its own system of church order and discipline, though these are referred to as "canons".
^abcMetz, René (1960). "What Is Canon Law?".The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Section VIII: The Organization of the Church. Vol. 80. New York: Hawthorn Books Inc.
^Shahan, Thomas (1908)."Apostolic Canons".The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved2024-11-15.
Beal, John P., James A. Coriden, & Thomas J. Green.New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law. New York: Paulist Press, 2000.
Brundage, James A.The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession: Canonists, Civilians, and Courts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c2008.
Brundage, James A.Medieval Canon Law. London/New York: Longman, 1995.
Coriden, James A.An Introduction to Canon Law, 3rd edn., revised & updated. New York: Paulist Press, 2019.
Coriden, James A., Thomas J. Green, & Donald E. Heintschel, eds.The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 1985.
Coughlin, John J., O.F.M.Canon Law: A Comparative Study with Anglo-American Legal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Della Rocca, Fernando.Manual of Canon Law. Trans. by Rev. Anselm Thatcher, O.S.B. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1959.
The Episcopal Church.Constitution and Canons, together with the Rules of Order for the Government of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, otherwise known as The Episcopal Church. New York: Church Publishing, Inc., 2006.
Hartmann, Wilfried & Kenneth Pennington, eds.The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140-1234: From Gratian to the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008.
Hartmann, Wilfried & Kenneth Penningon, eds.The History of Byzantine and Eastern Canon Law to 1500. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011.
R. C. Mortimer.Western Canon Law. London: A. and C. Black, 1953.
Ulanov, M. S., Badmaev, V. N., Holland, E. C. Buddhism and Kalmyk Secular Law in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries.Inner Asia. no. 19. P. 297–314.
Wagschal, David.Law and Legality in the Greek East: The Byzantine Canonical Tradition, 381–883. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Witte, John Jr. & Frank S. Alexander, eds.Christianity and Law: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Hovhannes, Otsnetsi (2010). Hakobyan, Vasken (ed.).The book of canon law(PDF). Burbank: Western Diocese of the Armenian Church. On Armenian Oriental canon law.
Code of Canon Law (1983), English translation by the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, assisted by the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Canadian Canon Law Society
