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Canon Law

Legal Definition and Related Resources of Canon law

Meaning of Canon law

A body of ecclesiastical law, which originated in the church of Rome, relating to matters of which that church has or claims jurisdiction. A canon is a rule of doctrine or of discipline, and is the term generally applied to designate the ordinances of councils and decrees of popes. The position which the canon law obtains beyond the papal dominions depends on the extent to which It is sanctioned or permitted by the government of each country; and hence the system of canon law as it is administered in different countries varies somewhat. Though this system of law is of primary importance in Catholic countries alone, it still maintains great influence and transmits many of its peculiar regulations down through the jurisprudence of Protestant countries which were formerly Catholic. Thus, the canon law has been a distinct branch of the profession in the ecclesiastical courts of England for several centuries ; but the recent modifications of the jurisdiction of those courts have done much to reduce its independent importance. The Corpus Juris Canonici is drawn from various sources, the opinions of the ancient fathers of the church, the decrees of councils, and the decretal epistles and bulls of the holy see, together with the maxims of the civil law and the teachings of the Scriptures. These sources were first drawn upon for a regular ecclesiastical system about the time of Pope Alexander III., in the middle of the twelfth century, when one Gratian, an Italian monk, animated by the discovery of Justinian”s Pandects, collected the ecclesiastical constitutions also into some method in three books, which he entitled Concordia Discordantium Canonum. These are generally known as Decretvm, Gratiani. The subsequent papal decrees to the time of the pontificate of Gregory IX. were collected in much the same method, under the auspices of that pope, about the year 1230, in five books, entitled Decretalia Gregorii Noni. A sixth book was added by Boniface VIII., about the year 1298, which is called Sextus Decretalium. The Clementine Constitution, or decrees of Clement V., were in like manner authenticated in 1317 by his successor, John XXII., who also published twenty constitutions of his own, called the Extravangantes Joannis, so called because they were in addition to, or beyond the boundary of, the former collections, as the additions to the civil law were called Novels. To these have since been added some decrees of later popes, down to the time of Sixtus IV., in five books, called Extravangantes Communes. And all these together Gratian”s Decrees, Gregory”s Decretals, the Sixth Decretals, the Clementine Constitutions, and the Extravagants of John and his successors form the Corpus Juris Canonici, or body of the Roman law. 1 Bl. Comm. 82; Encyclopedie, Dr. Canon. Dr. Pub. Ecc; Diet, de Jur. Dr. Canon.; Ersk. Inst. bk. 1, tit. 1, § 10.

What does Canon Law mean in American Law?

The definition of Canon Law in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

The law of the Christian church, originally and primarily the Roman Catholic one, but carrying over pari passu into Protestantism, especially the Church of England. Following the pattern of Roman Law, with which it had a long history of mutual influence, it was formed out of the “statutes” of the Popes, and answers by them and by specially designated members of curia, to questions posed by private litigants, all subject to a continuing effort at systemization and codification.

Canon law more pervaded society when the church did; large segments of what is now within the exclusive care of secular law-marriage and divorce, inheritance, contract, criminal law-once was exclusively or concurrently in the ecclesiastical jurisdiction. But even now, when canon law as such is (at least in England and the U.S.) exclusively the internal law of the church, many of its principles, e.g., the doctrines of contractual good faith, and unconscionability (the latter a disguised version of the medieval fair price doctrine), can be discerned in modern secular rules, especially those developed in Equity. (It should not be forgotten that quite late in English history the English chancellors were high ecclesiastics.) And, while canon law had its own special sources (e.g., the writings of church fathers), there was, of course, substantial borrowing between those two main heirs to Roman Law, canon law and what we have come to call civil law, i.e., the law of modern western Europe.

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This definition of Canon Law Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This definition needs to be proofread..

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Canon law in the Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims

Ecclesiastical law. In particular, a body of ecclesiastical laws relative to matters over which the church of Rome had or claims to have had jurisdiction. Received, In England, by immemorial custom, or else by consent of parliament; otherwise, ranked as unwritten law. 1 Bl. Com. 82, 79, 19.

Note: This legal definition of Canon law in the Dictionary of Law (English and American Jurisprudence) is from 1893.

Canon law in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of canon law.

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Meaning of Canon Law in the Past

The canon law is a body of Roman ecclesiastical law, relative to such matters as that church either has or pretends to have the proper jurisdiction over:

Developments

This is compiled from the opinions of the ancient Latin fathers, the decrees of general councils and the decretal epistles and bulls of the holy see. All which lay in the same confusion and disorder as the Roman civil law, till about the year 1151, when one Gratian, an Italian monk, animated by the discovery of Justinian’s Pandects, reduced the ecclesiastical constitutions (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) also into some method, in three books, which he entitled Concordia discordantium canonum, but which are generally known by the name of Decretum Gratiani. These reached as low as the time of Pope Alexander III. The subsequent papal decrees to the pontificate of Gregory IX., were published in much the same method, under the auspices of that pope, about the year 1230, in five books, entiled Decretalia Gregorii noni. A sixth book was added by Boniface VIII., about the year 1298, which is called Sextus decretalium. The Clementine constitution (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) or decrees of Clement V., were in like way authenticated in 1317, by his successor, John XXII., who also published twenty constitutions (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) of his own, called the Extravagantes Joannis, all of which in some way answer to the novels of the civil law. To these have since been added some decrees of the later popes, in five books called Extravagantes communes. And all these together, Gratian’s Decrees, Gregory’s Decretals, the Sixth Decretals, the Clementine constitutions (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) and the Extravagants of John and his successors, form the Corpus juris canonici or body of the Roman canon law. 1 Bl. Com. 82; Encyclopédie, Droit Canonique, Droit Public Ecclesiastique; Dict. de Jurispr. Droit Canonique; Ersk. Pr. L. Scotl. B. 1, t. 1, s. 10. See, in general, Ayl. Par. Jur. Can. Ang.; Shelf. on M. & D. 19; Preface to Burn’s Eccl. Law, by Thyrwhitt, 22; Hale’s Hist. C. L. 26-29; Bell’s Case of a Putative Marriage, 203; Dict. du Droit Canonique; Stair’s Inst. b. 1, t. 1, 7.[1]

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Notes and References

  1. Partialy, this information about canon law is based on the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, including canon law.

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Hierarchical Display of Canon law

Law > Sources and branches of the law > Legal science > Internal law of religions
Social Questions > Culture and religion > Religion > Christianity > Anglicanism
Social Questions > Culture and religion > Religion > Christianity > Catholicism
Social Questions > Culture and religion > Religion > Christianity > Orthodoxy

Meaning of Canon law

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Thesaurus of Canon law

Law > Sources and branches of the law > Legal science > Internal law of religions > Canon law
Social Questions > Culture and religion > Religion > Christianity > Anglicanism > Canon law
Social Questions > Culture and religion > Religion > Christianity > Catholicism > Canon law
Social Questions > Culture and religion > Religion > Christianity > Orthodoxy > Canon law

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