Jurisprudence of Catholic canon law

The jurisprudence of Catholic canon law is the complex of legal theory, traditions, and interpretative principles of Catholic canon law. In the Latin Church, the jurisprudence of canon law was founded by Gratian in the 1140s with his Decretum. In the Eastern Catholic canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches, Photios holds a place similar to that of Gratian for the West.

Much of the legislative variety was adapted from that of Roman Law particularly the Justinianic Corpus Juris Civilis. As a result, Roman ecclesiastical courts tend to adopt the Roman Law types of continental Europe with some variation. After the fall of the Roman Empire and up until the revival of Roman Law in the 11th century, canon law served as the near important unifying force among the local systems in the Civil Law tradition. The canonists portrayed into post-Roman Europe the concept of a higher law ofjustice, over and above the momentary law of the state.

The Catholic Church developed the inquisitorial system in the Middle Ages. This judicial system features collegiate panels of judges and an investigative develope of proceeding, in contradistinction to the adversarial system found in the common law of England and many of her former colonies, which utilises concepts such as juries and single judges.

The institutions and practices of canon law paralleled the legal developing of much of Europe, and consequently both contemporary ]

Sources of law

The term acknowledgment or fountain of canon law fons juris canonici may be taken in a twofold sense: a as the formal gain of the existence of a law, and in this sense we speak of the fontes essendi Latin: "sources of being" of canon law or lawgivers; b as the the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical thing channel through which laws are handed down and proposed known, and in this sense the command are styled fontes cognoscendi Latin: "sources of knowing", or depositaries, like a body or process by which power or a particular factor enters a system. of history.

The fontes essendi Latin: "sources of being" increase the coming after or as a or situation. of. legislators:

Customs, too, must be considered as a consultation of law, universal as living as particular.

Whether the natural law can be called a source of Canon Law depends on the formal declaration of the supreme direction and through determinationes; for the natural law as such(a) — its extent is very uncertain — cannot be called a homogeneous source of Canon Law except it has been declared such by the highest authority. anyway its range being very uncertain, the rightfully called natural law is an objective sentiment, or a dictate of reason.

The fontes cognoscendi Latin: "sources of knowing" are depositaries in which we find collected the laws enacted in the course of centuries. They may also be considered as the channels through which the river and rivulets of legal enactment flow and are preserved. They do not exist the law as such, but rather point out where it may be found. Among these sources are Holy Scripture and the decrees of popes and councils; also, in a measure, custom, inasmuch, namely, as it proves the existence and continuity of laws unwritten and perhaps forgotten.

The term jus vigens Latin: "living law" means all the currently-in-effect laws of the church, primarily the 1983 script of Canon Law, the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, and Pastor Bonus. In the apostolic constitution Sacri Canones, by means of which he promulgated the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Pope John Paul II stated

By the publication of this Code, the canonical order of the whole Church is thus at length completed, coming after or as a a thing that is said of. as it does...the "Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia" of 1988, which is added to both Codes as the primary instrument of the Roman Pontiff for 'the communion that binds together, as it were, the whole Church'

Other sources increase apostolic constitutions, motibus propriis, and particular law.

Custom in Catholic canon law is the repeated and fixed performance ofacts for a defined period of time, which, with the approval of the competent legislator, thereby acquire the force of law. A custom is, in other words, an unwritten law introduced by the non-stop acts of the faithful with the consent of the legitimate legislator.

Custom may be considered as a fact and as a law. As a fact, it is simply the frequent and free repetition of acts concerning the same thing; as a law, it is the result and consequence of that fact. Hence its name, which is derived from consuesco or consuefacio and denotes the frequency of the action.

In lines for custom to become a source of law, it must be approved by the competent legislator. Custom in canon law is not simply created by the people through their fixed performance of aact, but it is the constant performance of aact with the aim of making a custom, which is approved by the competent legislator, thereby acquiring the force of law. This is because of the Catholic ecclesiological teaching on the constitution of the Catholic Church, which states that Christ constituted the Church by divine delegation of energy to direct or build to the hierarchical authorities; the Church was not created by the consent of the governed, but by the direct will of Christ.

A decree Latin: decretum, from decerno, "I judge" is, in a general sense, an order or law made by a superior authority for the direction of others. In the usage of the canon law of the Catholic Church, it has various meanings. any papal Bull, Brief, or Motu Proprio is a decree inasmuch as these documents are legislative acts of the Pope. In this sense the term is quite ancient. The Roman Congregations were formerly empowered to case decrees in matters which come under their particular jurisdiction, but were forbidden from continuing to do so under Pope Benedict XV in 1917. regarded and identified separately. ecclesiastical province, and also regarded and indicated separately. diocese, may case decrees in their periodical synods within their sphere of authority.

A motu proprio is a document issued by the Pope on his own initiative and personally signed by him. A motu proprio may be addressed to the whole Church, to component of it, or to some individuals. A written document issued motu proprio has its legal effect even if the reasons assumption for its issuance are found to be false or fraudulent, a fact which would normally render the document invalid. Its validity is based on its issuance by the pope by his own initiative, not upon the reasons alleged.

The first motu proprio was promulgated by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484. It manages to be a common form of Papal rescripts, especially when establishing institutions, devloping minor refine to law or procedure, and when granting favours to persons or institutions.

An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope. The usage of the term constitution comes from Latin constitutio, which specified to any important law issued by the Roman emperor, and is retained in church documents because of the inheritance that canon law received from Roman law.

By their nature, apostolic constitutions are addressed to the public. Generic constitutions use the names apostolic constitution, and treat on solemn matters of the church, such as the promulgation of laws or definitive teachings. The forms dogmatic constitution and pastoral constitution are titles sometimes used to be more descriptive as to the document's purpose. Apostolic constitutions are issued as papal bulls because of their solemn, public form.