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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 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.
The canon law of the Catholic Church has all the ordinary elements of a mature legal system: laws, courts, lawyers, judges. [38] 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.
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 Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 1985. Commissioned by the Canon Law Society of America. John J. Coughlin. Canon Law: A Comparative Study with Anglo-American Legal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Fernando Della Rocca. Manual of Canon Law. Trans. by Anselm Thatcher.
Christianity is the predominant religion and faith in Europe, the Americas, the Philippines, East Timor, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania. [11] There are also large Christian communities in other parts of the world, such as Indonesia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa where Christianity is the second-largest religion after Islam.
Philosophy and theology shape the concepts and self-understanding of canon law as the law of both a human organization and as a supernatural entity, since the Catholic Church believes that Jesus Christ instituted the church by direct divine command, while the fundamental theory of canon law is a meta-discipline of the "triple relationship ...
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.