The function of canon law in liturgy, preaching and social activities involves the development and maintenance of institutions considered most useful for the personal life and faith of the members of the Church and for their vocation in the world. This function therefore deals with a continuous adaptation of canon law to the circumstances of the time as well as to personal needs. In Presbyterian and Reformed churches, canon law is known as “practice and procedure” or “order of the church” and includes the laws of the church that respect its government, discipline, legal practice, and worship. Because of the discontinuity that has developed between Church and State in modern times, and the rather exclusively spiritual and pastoral function of ecclesiastical organization, specialists in canon law seek to re-establish the vital contact between canon law and theology, biblical exegesis (critical principles of interpretation of the Bible) and the history of the Church in its contemporary forms. Canon jurists also seek a link with the empirical social sciences (e.g., sociology, anthropology, and other similar disciplines) necessary for understanding and monitoring the application of canon law. The study of the history of canon law requires not only legal and historical training, but also an overview of contemporary theological concepts and social relations. Many sources, such as documents of councils and popes, are often uncritical and are found only in poorly organized publications, and much of the material exists only in manuscripts and archives; Often, the sources of law contain a dead law (i.e. a law that is no longer valid) and say nothing about the living law. What falls and what is not, what is or is not a source of canon law, which law is universal and what is local, and other such questions must be judged differently for different periods. The Catholic Church has what is considered to be the oldest permanently functioning domestic legal system in Western Europe,[14] much later than Roman law, but before the development of modern European civil law traditions. What some might call “canons” adopted by the apostles at the Council of Jerusalem in the first century later evolved into a very complex legal system that included not only New Testament norms, but also elements of the Hebrew (Old Testament), Roman, Visigoth, Saxon, and Celtic legal traditions.
Catholics who appear before a court can consult canonical lawyers who are not usually secular lawyers. A canonical lawyer usually completes at least two years of courses in the canons. North American canonical lawyers earn their degree in canon law from one of two institutions: The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, or Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Eastern Orthodox Church, mainly through the work of the 18th century Athonite monastic scholar Nicodemus the Hagiorite. He compiled canons and commentaries on them in a work known as the Pēdálion (Greek: Πηδάλιον, “row”), so called because he is supposed to “guide” the Church in its discipline. The dogmatic provisions of the Councils must be strictly applied, as they are considered essential for the unity of the Church and the faithful preservation of the Gospel. [25] Canon law has functioned at various historical periods in the organization of liturgy, preaching, works of charity and other Church activities through which Christianity was established and spread in the Mediterranean and beyond. In addition, canon law played an essential role in the transmission of Greek and Roman jurisprudence and in the reception of Justinian law (Roman law, as it existed under the patronage of the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the 6th century). It was codified in Europe in the Middle Ages. Thus, the history of the Middle Ages, inasmuch as it was dominated by ecclesiastical concerns, cannot be written without knowledge of the ecclesiastical institutions governed according to canon law.
Medieval canon law also had a lasting influence on the law of Protestant churches. Many institutions and concepts of canon law have influenced secular law and jurisprudence in countries influenced by Protestantism – for example, matrimonial law, the law of obligations, the doctrine of types of acquisition of property, possession, will, legal persons, criminal procedure, and the law of evidence or evidence. International law owes its origins to canonists and theologians, and the modern idea of the state can be traced back to the ideas of medieval canonists about the constitution of the Church. The history of the juridical principles of the relationship of the priesthood to the empire – that is, from ecclesiastical authority to lay authority or from church to state – is a central factor in European history. In the Church of England, ecclesiastical courts, which adjudicated many matters such as disputes relating to marriage, divorce, wills and defamation, still have jurisdiction over certain ecclesiastical matters (e.g. discipline of clergy, alteration of church property, and matters relating to cemeteries). Its distinct status dates back to the 12th century, when the Normans separated it from the mixed secular-religious county of the Saxons and the local courts. Unlike other courts in England, the law used in ecclesiastical matters is, at least in part, a civil law system, not a common law system, although it is heavily regulated by parliamentary acts.
Since the Reformation, ecclesiastical courts in England have been royal courts. The teaching of canon law at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge was abolished by Henry VIII. Subsequently, practitioners were trained in civil law in ecclesiastical courts and received a Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) from Oxford or a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from Cambridge. These lawyers (called “doctors” and “civilians”) were centered in “Doctors Commons”, a few blocks south of St Paul`s Cathedral in London, where they monopolized probate, marriage and admiralty cases until their jurisdiction was transferred to the common law courts in the mid-19th century. For a brief history of canon law, see this essay by Kenneth Pennington, which also discusses the influence of canon law on modern legal principles such as due process. n. Laws and regulations on ecclesiastical (ecclesiastical) affairs developed between about 1100 and 1500 and were used by the Roman Catholic Church with regard to personal morality, the status and powers of the clergy, the administration of the sacraments, and ecclesiastical and personal discipline. Canon law includes the ordinances of the General Councils of the Church, decrees, bulls, and letters of popes, and the writings and writings of the early Church Fathers. Canon law has no legal force, except in the Vatican in Rome, Italy, and in countries where the Catholic Church is the “official” Church and dominates in religious matters that can affect all citizens (such as abortion and divorce).
There is also canon law in Britain, dating from the pre-Reformation to the 16th century, used by the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church. Canon law should not be confused with professional canons, which are rules of conduct without religious reference. Although canon law is historically continuous from the early Church to the present day, as a result of doctrinal and ecclesiastical schisms, it has developed different, though often similar, models of codification and norms in the various Churches that have incorporated it into their ecclesiastical framework. The canon law of the Eastern and Western Churches was largely the same in form until these two groups of Churches separated in the schism of 1054. In Eastern Christianity, however, due to doctrinal and nationalistic conflicts, they separated between the 5th and 7th centuries. In the nineteenth century, several ecclesiastical (especially non-Greek) groups were formed by the nominal head of Eastern Christianity, the Patriarch of Constantinople, and developed their own canonical legal systems, often reflecting nationalistic concerns. Canon law (from Ancient Greek: κανών, canon, a “right, ruler) standard”) is a set of ordinances and regulations issued by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the direction of a Christian church or organization and its members. It is internal canon law or operational policy that governs the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches), the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the individual national Churches within the Anglican Communion. [1] The way in which this canon law is legislated, interpreted and sometimes decided varies considerably between these four ecclesiastical bodies. In all three traditions, a canon was originally[2] a rule adopted by an ecclesiastical council; These canons formed the basis of canon law. The institutions and practices of canon law corresponded to the legal development of much of Europe and, consequently, modern civil law and common law are influenced by canon law. As Edson Luiz Sampel, a Brazilian expert in canon law, puts it, canon law is contained in the emergence of various civil law institutions, such as law in continental Europe and Latin American countries.
Indirectly, canon law has a significant influence on contemporary society. [18] Since the fourth century, the Roman Catholic Church has developed regulations that have had some influence on secular (non-church-related) legal procedures. These regulations are called canons and are codified in the Codex of Canon Law (Latin Codex juris canonici).
