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The canon law of the Catholic Church (from Latin ius canonicum[1]) is "how the Church organizes and governs herself".[2] It is the system of 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.[3] It was the first modern Western legal system[4] and is the oldest continuously functioning system of law in the West,[5][6] while the unique traditions of Eastern Catholic canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches sui iuris.
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,[7] 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.[8] The canon law of the Catholic Church is articulated in the legal code for the Latin Church[9] as well as a code for the Eastern Catholic Churches.[9] This canon law has principles of legal interpretation,[10] and coercive penalties.[11] 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 canonists[12][13] (or colloquially, canon lawyers[12][14]). 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.
- ^ Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, p. 771: "Ius canonicum"
- ^ Father James Goodwin (4 June 2021). "Church Teaching. Introduction to Canon Law". Simply Catholic. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ Della Rocca, Manual of Canon Law, p. 3
- ^ Berman, Harold J. Law and Revolution, pp. 86, 115
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
clinfomainwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Raymond Wacks, Law: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Ed. (Oxford University Press, 2015) p. 13.
- ^ Canon 331 Archived 2007-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, 1983 Code of Canon Law
- ^ Edward N. Peters, "A Catechist's Introduction to Canon Law" Archived 2017-08-02 at the Wayback Machine, CanonLaw.info, accessed June-11-2013
- ^ a b Manual of Canon Law, p. 49
- ^ "Code of Canon Law: text - IntraText CT". www.intratext.com. Archived from the original on 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
- ^ St. Joseph Foundation newsletter, Vol. 30 No. 7 Archived 2020-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, p. 3
- ^ a b Vere & Trueman, Surprised by Canon Law [volume 1], 2004, p. 3
- ^ Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, p. 187: "Canonist"
- ^ Berman, Law and Revolution, p. 288