Canon+Law




 * What is it? **

Canon Law is the Roman Catholic Church’s own system of law as defined by Harry R. Dammer and Jay S. Albanese, “Canon Law includes provisions regulating family life and morals, as well as rules for church governance. Over the years it has been influential on Western laws related to marriage, inheritance, property, contracts, crimes, torts, and judicial procedure.” (3) Canon law is still present today and overlaps with other systems of law, claiming authority over different Catholic Church matters and running a separate court system. Canon law is not much different in the case of how sometimes Federal and State systems of the United Sates laws overlap. It is important to know that all cases are reported to Vatican City, the capital and country of the Catholic Church.


 * History of Canon Law **

According to //Comparative Criminal Justice Systems// by authors Harry R. Dammer and Jay S. Albanese, “The origins of Canon Law go back to the fourth century, claiming its roots in divine law as decreed by the Pope and other church authorities and administered by ecclesiastical or church courts”.

The reason judicial authority of the Church is so important for Catholics is because without it (Canon Law), the Catholic Church is powerless to all evil deeds (Satan’s doings). Canon Law must be followed in order for the Catholic faith to be communicated throughout the world. (4)

If Canon Law does not prevail then the Church and it’s followers are vulnerable to evil doings and Satan’s manipulations, the oldest example being the Crucifixion. In the Crucifixion of Christ, God’s Law was undermined and Satan got into the heads and hearts of Jews and Romans because while what they did to Jesus was legal, it was also immoral. If you don’t believe in God, morality does not matter. If Satan can get into minds and hearts of people who follow the law then that leads to a path of destruction.

Satan undermined the Church and its laws in many ways. His constant temptations of good people to take an “easy” way out or to ignore laws was his attempt to influence law - and ultimately, to break laws. This is why Canon Law is important for the Catholic Church.


 * Canon Law Legal System **

Courts dealing with Canon law operate in a similar manner as do civil and criminal courts. People who are in a Canon court have legal representatives (Canon Lawyers) and the case is argued in front of a judge, usually priests, bishops, cardinals, and sometimes the Pope. To be a judge you have to have Canon Law degree o btained from any Law School that offers it.

Tribunal Courts (Canon/Church Courts), either come to you or you go to them. For example, if a Catholic Institution wrongs somebody, they file the report to the tribunal, not a civil court. The reason for this is because the civil courts may say that they don’t have jurisdiction over such matters in their particular locations, the recourse m aybe the tribunal (Church Courts) of the diocese.

Many would think that that Canon Law refers only to the bible for rules, but that isn’t completely true.

Canon Law is not like Muslim Law where they have and follow the Qur’an and the Sunna, Canon Law actually has its own book of law, in which they follow and practice law from, the Code of Canon Law (Image Above).


 * Canon Law Today **

One might ask how Canon Law coexists with other legal systems today? Well, the answer is fairly simple; there are many current issues where Canon Law is included and used today. Without Canon Law many other legal systems would become discombobulated. Canon Law comes into action in many events of our lives. Here are a few examples (1):


 * Canon Law says a marriage could be considered invalid if one or both of the spouses fabricates their name, age, sex (as in gender), baptismal or birth certificate which states that the person is Catholic and they are not, had committed a capital crime and spouse did not know, or either of the spouses becomes an atheist during the marriage.
 * Canon Law says that if a teacher at a Catholic School or organization says abortion is ok, the Tribunal would get involved because what they teach is against Catholic Doctrine.
 * Canon Law says Catholic Schools and Organizations cannot consider themselves Catholic without Church’s consent. For example Marquette University would have never been considered a Catholic Jesuit University without the Church’s consent. (2)
 * Canon Law says Catholic Churches first need the permission of the Bishop of the Diocese to be considered a church.
 * Canon Law says that if a Catholic religious commits murder or other heinous crimes there will be two trials: the state trial and the religious trial in which their religious title would be removed. So, that person is no longer a priest, nun, deacon, etc.
 * Canon Law says the Pope, Vatican Congregations, or the Papal Nuncio can only do an excommunication. To be excommunicated one would have to have committed a grave act: heretics (Can. 1364), abortion (Can. 1398), creating or joining separate religions against the Catholic Church (Can. 1374), if a brother, priest, nun, gets married or has children (Can. 1394), if seal of confession is violated (Can. 1388).

These examples are just a few of the serious offenses against Canon Law. Refer to Code of Canon Law for more information.



[|For Canon Law]
 * External Links **

[|Canon Law Orgins]

[|Frequently asked questions about Canon Law]

1)Code of Canon Law: Latin-English Edition (Catholic Church). Print.
 * Sources **

2)The Law and Catholic Schools (Mary Angela Shaughnessy). Print.

3)Comparative Criminal Justice Systems (Harry R. Dammer, Jay S. Albanese). Print.

4)Surprised By Canon Law, Volume 2 (Pete Vere, Michael Trueman). Print.