Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Canon law (from Ancient Greek: κανών, kanon, a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members.
The canon law of the Latin Church was the first modern Western legal system, [39] and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West. [40] [41] while the distinctive traditions of Eastern Catholic canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches sui iuris.
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.
In canon law, a canon designates some law promulgated by a synod, an ecumenical council, or an individual bishop. [ 2 ] The word "canon" comes from the Greek kanon , which in its original usage denoted a straight rod that was later the instrument used by architects and artificers as a measuring stick for making straight lines.
Catholic canon law is the set of rules and principles (laws) by which the Catholic Church is governed, through enforcement by governmental authorities. [ clarification needed ] [ citation needed ] Law is also the field which concerns the creation and administration of laws.
The 1917 Code was later replaced by the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the codification of canon law currently in effect for the Latin Church. The Corpus Juris Canonici was used in canonical courts of the Catholic Church such as those in each diocese and in the courts of appeal at the Roman Curia such as the Roman Rota .
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Some authors conceive of canon law as essentially theological and the discipline of canon law as a theological subdiscipline, [19] but Msgr. Carlos José Errázuriz contends that "in a certain sense, all postconciliar canonical scholarship has shown a theological concern in the widest sense, that is, a tendency to determine more clearly the ...