Canon law
Canon law (from
Etymology
In the fourth century, the First 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 called leges, Latin for laws.[4]
Apostolic Canons
The
Catholic Church
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In the
In the
The Catholic Church also includes the main five rites (groups) of churches which are in full union with the Holy See and the Latin Church:
- Alexandrian Rite Churches which include the Coptic Catholic Church, Eritrean Catholic Church, and Ethiopian Catholic Church.
- West Syriac Rite which includes the Maronite Church, Syriac Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.
- Armenian Rite Church which includes the Armenian Catholic Church.
- Byzantine Rite Churches which include the Albanian Greek Catholic Church, Belarusian Greek Catholic Church, Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church, Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia, Greek Byzantine Catholic Church,[13] Hungarian Greek Catholic Church, Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, Macedonian Greek Catholic Church, Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Romanian Greek Catholic Church, Russian Greek Catholic Church, Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, Slovak Greek Catholic Church and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
- East Syriac Rite Churches which includes the Chaldean Catholic Church and Syro-Malabar Church.
All of these church groups are in full communion with the Supreme Pontiff and are subject to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
History, sources of law, and codifications
The
The history of Latin canon law can be divided into four periods: the jus antiquum, the jus novum, the jus novissimum and the Code of Canon Law.[15] In relation to the Code, history can be divided into the jus vetus (all law before the Code) and the jus novum (the law of the Code, or jus codicis).[15]
The 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.[16]
Catholic canon law as legal system
Roman Catholic canon law is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code,
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,
Much of Catholic canon law's legislative style was adapted from the Roman
The institutions and practices of Catholic canon law paralleled the legal development of much of Europe, and consequently, both modern
Catholic Canonical jurisprudential theory generally follows the principles of Aristotelian-Thomistic legal philosophy.[14] While the term "law" is never explicitly defined in the Catholic Code of Canon Law,[19] the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites Aquinas in defining law as "an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community"[20] and reformulates it as "a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good".[21]
Code for the Eastern Churches
The law of the Eastern 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. The publication of these Codes for the Eastern Churches regarding the law of persons was made between 1949 through 1958[22] but finalized nearly 30 years later.[4]
The first Code of Canon Law (1917) was exclusively for the Latin Church, with application to the Eastern Churches only "in cases which pertain to their very nature".[23] After the Second Vatican Council (1962 - 1965), the Vatican produced the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches which became the first code of Eastern Catholic Canon Law.[24]
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, principally through the work of 18th-century Athonite monastic scholar Nicodemus the Hagiorite, has compiled canons and commentaries upon them in a work known as the Pēdálion (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.[25]
Anglican Communion
In the
Other churches in the
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.[26]
Presbyterian and Reformed churches
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 the
Lutheranism
The
United Methodist Church
The Book of Discipline contains the laws, rules, policies, and guidelines for The United Methodist Church. Its latest edition was published in 2016.
See also
- Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
- Akribeia
- Canon law (Church of England)
- Canon law (Episcopal Church in the United States)
- Canonical Inquisition
- Collections of ancient canons
- Decretum Gratiani
- Doctor of both laws
- Economy (religion)
- Fetha Nagast
- Halakha
- Ius remonstrandi
- List of canon lawyers
- Religious law
- Rule according to higher law
- Sharia
- State religion
References
- ^ Boudinhon, Auguste. "Canon Law." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 9 August 2013
- ^ a b Wiesner-Hanks, Merry (2011). Gender in History: Global Perspectives. Wiley Blackwell. p. 37.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b c Metz, 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. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
- ^ "The Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles". Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VII. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ^ Ramstein, Fr. Matthew (1948). Manual of Canon Law. Terminal Printing & Pub. Co., p. 3
- ^ Berman, Harold J. Law and Revolution, pg. 86 & pg. 115
- Dr. Edward N. Peters, CanonLaw.info Home Page, accessed June-11-2013
- ^ Raymond Wacks, Law: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Ed. (Oxford University Press, 2015) pg. 13.
- ^ Canon 331, 1983 Code of Canon Law
- ^ Vatican Archive. "Code of Canon Law". Vatican.va. Archived from the original on 20 February 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ "The Other 23 Catholic Churches and Why They Exist". Ascension Press Media. 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
- ^ a b Peters, Dr. Edward, JD, JCD, Ref. Sig. Ap. "Home Page". CannonLaw.info.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Ramstein, pg. 13, #8
- ^ Blessed John Paul II, Ap. Const. (1990). "Apostolic Constitution Sacri Canones John Paul II 1990".
- ^ Ramstein, pg. 49
- ^ "canon law." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 9 August 2013.
- ^ Gray, Msgr. Jason. "Home Page". JGray.org. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- )
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Moral Law§1951
- ^ "In 1959, John XXIII, announced for the first time his decision to reform the existing corpus of canonical legislation"https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P1.HTM
- ^ Canon 1, 1917 Code of Canon Law.
- ^ Ford, Don (June 2007). "Canon Law Research Guide". GlobaLex. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
- ^ Patsavos, Lewis J. (2013). "The Canonical Tradition of the Orthodox Church". Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
- ^ Doe, Norman, "The Contribution of Common Principles of Canon to Ecclesial Communion in Anglicanism", The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the Anglican Communion, London: The Anglican Communion Office, 2008, p. 97.
- ISBN 9780804759878. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
- ^ Bente, Friedrich., ed. and trans., Concordia Triglotta, (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), p. i
Further reading
- ISBN 0-406-93053-8
- 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, revised edn. New York: Paulist Press, 2004.
- 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.
- ISBN 9788872103364.
- Robinson, O.F., T.D. Fergus, & W.M. Gordon. European Legal History, 3rd edn. London: Butterworths, 2000. ISBN 0-406-91360-9
- 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. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-12. On Armenian Oriental canon law.
External links
Catholic
- Codex Iuris Canonici (1983), original text in Latin (the only official text)
- Code of Canon Law (1983) but with the 1998 modification of canons 750 and 1371, English translation by the Canon Law Society of America Archived 2020-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, on the Vatican website
- 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
- Codex canonum ecclesiarum orientalium (1990), original text in Latin
- "Code of canons of Oriental Churchs" (1990), English translation
- Codex Iuris Canonici (1917), original text in Latin
Anglican