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CANON LAW

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CANON See also:LAW . Canon law, See also:jus canonicum, is the sum of the See also:laws which regulate the ecclesiastical See also:body; for this See also:reason it is also called ecclesiastical law, jus ecclesiasticum. It is also referred to under the name of canones, sacri canones, a See also:title of See also:great antiquity, for the Kavoves, regulae, were very See also:early distinguished from the See also:secular laws, the v6 tot, leges. The word Kaviav, canon, has been employed in ecclesiastical literature in several different senses (see CANON above). The worn disciplinary decisions of the See also:council of See also:Nicaea, for "canon." example (can. 1, 2, &c.), employ it in the sense of an Different established See also:rule, ecclesiastical in its origin and in its meanings. See also:object. But the expression is most frequently used to designate disciplinary laws, in which See also:case canons are distinguished from dogmatic See also:definitions. With regard to See also:form, the decisions of See also:councils, even when dogmatic, are called canons; thus the definitions of the council of See also:Trent or of the Vatican, which generally begin with the words " Si quis dixerit," and end with the See also:anathema, are canons; while the See also:long chapters, even when dealing withmattersof discipline, retain the name of chapters or decrees. Similarly, it has become customary to give the name of canons to the texts inserted in certain canonical compilations such as the Decretum of See also:Gratian, while the name of chapters is given to the analogous quotations from the Books of the See also:Decretals. It is merely a question of words and of usage. As to the expression jus canonicum, it implies the systematic codification of ecclesiastical legislation, and had no existence previous to the labours which resulted in the Corpus See also:juris canonici. Canon law is divided into public law and private law; the former is concerned with the constitution of the See also:Church, and, Divisions, consequently, with the relations between her and other bodies, religious and See also:civil; the latter has as its object the See also:internal discipline of the ecclesiastical body and its members.

This See also:

division, which has been found convenient for the study of canon law, has no precedent in the collections of texts. With regard to the texts now in force, the name of jus antiquum, See also:ancient law, has been given to the laws previous to the Corpus juris canonici; the legislation of this Corpus has been called jus novum, new law; and finally, the name of See also:recent law, jus novissimum, has been given to the law established by the council of Trent and subsequent papal constitutions. There is a further distinction between the written law, jus scriptum, laws made by the councils or popes, which are to be found in the collections, and the unwritten law, jus non scriptum, a body of See also:practical rules arising rather from natural See also:equity and from See also:custom than from formal laws; with this is connected the customary law. In the Church, as in other See also:societies, it has happened that the unwritten customary law has undergone a See also:gradual diminution in importance, as a consequence of centralization and the See also:accumulation of written laws; nowadays it need not be reckoned with, See also:save in cases where See also:local customs are involved. The See also:common law is that which is intended to regulate the whole body; See also:special or local law is that which is concerned with certain districts or certain categories of persons, by derogation from or addition to the common law. By the See also:sources or authors of the canon law are meant the authorities from which it is derived; they must obviously be of such a nature as to be binding upon the whole religious body, or at least upon a specified portion of it.. In the highest See also:rank must be placed See also:Christ and the Apostles, whose v. 7dispositions for the constitution and See also:government of the Church are contained in the New Testament, completed by tradition; for the Church did not accept the disciplinary and See also:ritual -See also:pro-visions of the Old Testament as binding upon her (see Acts xi., xv.). To the apostles succeeded the episcopal body, with its See also:chief the See also:bishop of See also:Rome, the successor of St. See also:Peter, whose legislative and disciplinary See also:power, by a See also:process of centralization, underwent a slow but uninterrupted development. It is then to the episcopate, assembled in ecumenical council, and to its chief, that the See also:function of legislating for the whole Church belongs; the inferior authorities, local councils or isolated bishops and prelates, can only make special laws or statutes, valid only for that See also:part of the Church under their See also:jurisdiction. Most of the canons, however, which constitute the ancient law, and notably those which appear in the Decretum of Gratian, emanate from local councils, or even from individual bishops; they have found a See also:place in the common law because the collections of canons, of which they formed the most notable part, have been everywhere adopted.

Having made these See also:

general observations, we must now consider the See also:history of those texts and collections of canons which to-See also:day form the ecclesiastical law of the Western Church: (1) up to the Decretum of Gratian, (2) up to the council of Trent, (3 and 4) up to the See also:present day, including the codification ordered by See also:Pius X. 1. From the Beginning to the Decretum of Gratian.—At no See also:time, and least of all during the earliest centuries, was there any See also:attempt to draw up a See also:uniform See also:system of legislation for the whole of the See also:Christian Church. - The various communities ruled them-selves principally according to their customs and traditions, which, however, possessed a certain uniformity resulting from their See also:close connexion with natural and divine law. Strangely enough, those documents which See also:bear the greatest resemblance to a small collection of canonical regulations, such as the See also:Didache, the Didascalia and the Canons of See also:Hippolytus, have not been retained, and find no place in the collections of canons, doubtless for the reason that they were not See also:official documents. Even the See also:Apostolical Constitutions (q.v.), an expansion of the Didache and the Didascalia, after exercising a certain amount of See also:influence, were rejected by the council in Trullo (692). Thus the only pseudo-epigraphic document preserved in the law of the See also:Greek Church is the small collection of the eighty-five so-called "Apostolic Canons " (q.v.). The compilers, in their several collections, gathered only occasional decisions, the outcome of no pre-determined See also:plan, given by councils or by certain great bishops. These compilations began in the See also:East. It appears that in several different districts canons made by the local assemblies' were added to those of the council of Nicaea which were everywhere accepted and observed. The first example seems to be that of the See also:province of See also:Pontus, where after the twenty canons of Nicaea were placed the twenty-five canons of the council of See also:Ancyra (.314), and the fifteen of that of Neocaesarea (315-320). These texts were adopted at See also:Antioch, where there were further added the twenty-five canons of the so-called council in encaeniis of that See also:city (341).

Soon after-wards, See also:

Paphlagonia contributed twenty canons passed at the council of Gangra (held, according to the Synodicon orientale, in 343),2 and See also:Phrygia fifty-nine canons of the See also:assembly of See also:Laodicea (345-381?), or rather of the compilation known as the See also:work of this council.' The collection was so well and so widely known that all these canons were numbered in sequence, and thus at the council of See also:Chalcedon (451) several of the canons of Antioch were read out under the number assigned to them in the collection of, the whole. It was further increased by the ' The councils which we are about to mention, up to the 9th See also:century, have been published several times, notably in the great collections of See also:Hardouin, Mansi, &c.; they will be found brought together in one small See also:volume in Bruns, Canones apostolorum et conciliorum (See also:Berlin, 1839). 2 The date of this council was formerly unknown; it is ascribed to 343 by the See also:Syriac Nestorian collection recently published by M. See also:Chabot, Synodicon Orientale, p. 278, See also:note 4. See Boudinhon, " Note sur le concile de Laodicee," in the See also:Corn See also:pie rendu du premier congres See also:des savants catholiques a See also:Paris, 1888 (Paris, 1889), vol. ii. p. 420. Sr Sources. Greek collection. twenty-eight (See also:thirty) canons of Chalcedon; about the same time were added the four canons of the council of See also:Constantinople of 381, under the name of which also appeared three (or seven) other canons of a later date. Towards the same date, also, the so-called " Apostolic Canons " were placed at the See also:head of the See also:group. Such was the See also:condition of the Greek collection when it was translated and introduced into the See also:West.

In the course of the 6th century the collection was completed by the addition of documents already in existence, but which had hitherto remained isolated, notably the canonical letters of several great bishops, See also:

Dionysius of See also:Alexandria, St See also:Basil and others. It was at this time that the Latin collection of Dionysius Exiguus became known; and just as he had given the Greek councils a place in his collection, so from him were borrowed the canons of councils which did not appear in the Greek collection—the twenty canons of See also:Sardica (343), in the Greek See also:text, which differs considerably from the Latin; and the council of See also:Carthage of 419, which itself included, more or less completely, in 105 canons, the decisions of the See also:African councils. Soon after came the council in Trullo (692), also called the Quinisextum, because it was considered as complementary to the two councils (5th and 6th ecumenical) of Constantinople (553 and 68o), which had not made any disciplinary canons. This assembly elaborated 102 canons, which did not become part of the Western law till much later, on the initiative of See also:Pope See also:John VIII. (872-881). Now, in the second of its canons, the council in Trullo recognized us final and sanctioned the Greek collection above men-form. tioned; it enumerates all its articles, insists on the recognition of these canons, and at the same time prohibits the addition of others. As thus defined, the collection contains the following documents: firstly, the eighty-five Apostolic Canons, the Constitutions having been put aside as having suffered heretical alterations; secondly, the canons of the councils of Nicaea, Ancyra, Neocaesarea, Gangra, Antioch, Laodicea, Constantinople (381), See also:Ephesus (the disciplinary canons of this council See also:deal with the reception of the See also:Nestorians, and were not communicated to the West), Chalcedon, Sardica, Carthage (that of 419, according to Dionysius), Constantinople (394) ; thirdly, the See also:series of canonical letters of the following great bishops—Dionysius of Alexandria, Peter of Alexandria (the See also:Martyr), See also:Gregory Thaumaturgus, See also:Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, See also:Amphilochus of See also:Iconium, See also:Timotheus of Alexandria, See also:Theophilus of Alexandria, See also:Cyril of Alexandria, Gennadius of Constantinople; the canon of See also:Cyprian of Carthage (the Martyr) is also mentioned, but with the note that it is only valid for See also:Africa. With the addition of the twenty-two canons of the ecumenical council of Nicaea (787), this will give us the whole contents of the official collection of the Greek Church; since then it has remained unchanged. The law of the Greek Church was in reality rather the work of the See also:Byzantine emperors.' The collection has had several commentators; we need only mention the commentaries of See also:Photius (883),Lonaras (1120) and Balsamon (1170). A collection in which the texts are simply reproduced in their See also:chronological See also:order is obviously inconvenient; towards 550, Johannes Scholasticus, See also:patriarch of Constantinople, See also:drew up a methodical See also:classification of them under fifty heads. Finally should be mentioned yet another See also:kind of compilation still in use in the Greek Church, bearing the name of nomocanon, because in them are inserted, See also:side by side with the ecclesiastical canons, the imperial laws on each subject: the chief of them are the one bearing the name of Johannes Scholasticus, which belongs, however, to a later date, and that of Photius (883). The canon law of the other Eastern Churches had no marked influence on the collections of the Western Church, so we need not speak of it here.

While, from the 5th century onwards a certain unification in the ecclesiastical law began to take place ' For the further history of the law of the Greek Church and that of the Eastern Churches, see Wring, Kirchenrecht, §§ 14-183 (ed. 1893). The See also:

Russian Church, as we know, adopted the Greek ecclesiastical law.within the See also:sphere of the see of Constantinople, it was not till later that a similar result was arrived at in the West. For several centuries there is no mention of any but local collections of canons, and even these are not found till the 5th century; we have to come down to the 8th or even the 9th century before we find any trace of unification. This process was uniformly the result of the passing on of the various collections from one region to another. The most remarkable, and the most homogeneous, as well as without doubt the most ancient of these local collections is that of the Church of Africa. It was formed, so to speak, Africa. automatically, owing to the plenary assemblies of the African episcopate held practically every See also:year, at which it was customary first of all to read out the canons of the previous councils. This gave to the collection an official See also:character. At the time of the Vandal invasion this collection comprised the canons of the council of Carthage under Gratus (about 348) and under Genethlius (39o), the whole series of the twenty or twenty-two plenary councils held during the episcopate of Aurelius, and finally, those of the councils held at Byzacene. Of the last-named we have only fragments, and the series of the councils under Aurelius is very incomplete. The African collection has not come to us directly: we have two incomplete and confused arrangements of it, in two collections, that of the Hispana and that of Dionysius Exiguus. Dionysius knows only the council of 419, in connexion with the affair of Apiarius; but in this single text are reproduced, more or less fully, &'most all the synods of the collection; this was the celebrated See also:Con-cilium Africanum, so often quoted in the See also:middle ages, which was also recognized by the Greeks.

The See also:

Spanish collection divides the African canons among seven councils of Carthage and one of Mileve; but in many cases it ascribes them to the wrong source; for example, it gives under the title of the See also:fourth council of Carthage, the Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua, an Arlesian compilation of See also:Saint Caesarius,. which has led to a number of incorrect references. Towards the middle of the 6th century a Carthaginian See also:deacon, See also:Fulgentius Ferrandus, drew up a Breviatio canonum,2 a methodical arrangement of the African collection, in the order of the subjects. From it we learn that the canons of Nicaea and the other Greek councils, up to that of Chalcedon, were also known in Africa. The See also:Roman Church, even more than the See also:rest, governed itself according to it; own customs and traditions. Up to the end of the 5th century the only canonical document of See also:Roma non-Roman origin which it officially recognized was the group of canons of Nicaea, under which name were also included those of Sardica. A Latin version of the other Greek councils (the one referred to by Dionysius as prisca) was known, but no canonical use was made of it. The local law was founded on usage and on the papal letters called decretals. The latter were of two kinds: some were addressed to the bishops of the ecclesiastical province immediately subject to the pope; the others were issued in See also:answer to questions submitted from various quarters; but in both cases the See also:doctrine is the same. At the beginning of the 6th century the Roman Church adopted the See also:double collection, though of private origin, which was See also:drawn up at that time by the See also:monk Dionysius, known by the name of Dionysius Exiguus, which he himself had assumed as a sign of humility. He was a Scythian by See also:birth, and did not come to Rome till after 496; his learning was considerable for his times, and to him we owe the employment of the Christian era and a new way of reckoning See also:Easter. At the See also:desire of See also:Stephen, bishop of Salona, he undertook the task of making a new See also:translation, from the See also:original Greek text, of the canons of the Greek collection. The See also:manuscript which he used contained only the first fifty of the Apostolic Canons; these he translated, and they thus became part of the law of the West, This part of the work of Dionysius was not added to later; it was otherwise with the second part.

This 2 Edited by See also:

Pierre See also:Pithou (Paris, 1588), and later by Chifflet, Falb. Frrrandi See also:opera (See also:Dijon, 1694); reproduced in See also:Migne, Pate. See also:Lat. vol. 67, See also:col. 949. Nomocanon. In the West. Dlonyslus Exiguus and his collection. embodied the documents containing the local law, namely 39 decretals of the popes from See also:Siricius (384-398) to See also:Anastasius II. (496-498). As was natural this collection received successive additions as further decretals appeared. The collection formed by combining these two parts remained the only official See also:code of the Roman Church until the labours undertaken in consequence of the reforming See also:movement in the rrth century.

In 774 Pope See also:

Adrian I. gave the twofold collection of the Scythian monk to the future See also:emperor See also:Charlemagne as the canonical See also:book of the Roman Church; this is what is called the Dionysio-Hadriana. This was an important See also:stage in the history of the centralization of canon law; the collection was officially received t)loaysio- b the Frankish Church, imposed b the council of Hadriana. Y by See also:Aix-la-Chapelle of 802, and from that time on was recognized and quoted as the See also:liber canonum. If we consider that the Church of Africa, which had already suffered considerably from the Vandal invasion, was at this See also:period almost entirely destroyed by the See also:Arabs, while the See also:fate of See also:Spain was but little better, it is easy to see why the collection of Dionysius became the code of almost the whole of the Western Church, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon countries; though here too it was known. The other collections of canons, of See also:Italian origin, compiled before the loth century, are of importance on See also:account of the documents which they have preserved for us, but as they have' not exercised any great influence on the development of canon law, we may pass them over. The Dionysio-Hadriana did not, when introduced into See also:Gaul, take the place of any other generally received collection of In Gaul. canons. In this See also:country the Church had not been centralized See also:round a See also:principal see which would have produced unity in canon law as in other things; even the See also:political territorial divisions had been very unstable. The only canonical centre of much activity was the Church of See also:Arles, Nhich exercised considerable influence over the surrounding region in the 5th and 6th centuries. The chief collection known throughout Gaul before the Dionysio-Hadriana was the so- called collection of See also:Quesnel, named after its first Quesnel co/See also:lection. editor.' It is a See also:rich collection, though badly arranged , and contains 98 documents—Eastern and African canons and papal letters, but no Gallic councils; so that it is not a collection of local law. We might expect to find such a collection, in view of the numerous and important councils held in Gaul; but their decisions remained scattered among a great number of collections none of which had ever a wide circulation or an official character. It would be impossible to enumerate here all the Gallic councils which contributed towards the canon law of that country; we councils. will mention only the following: Arles (314), of great importance; a number of councils in the See also:district of Arles, completed by the Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua of St Caesarius; 2 the councils of the province of See also:Tours; the assemblies of the episcopate of the three kingdoms of the Visigoths at See also:Agde (5o6), of the See also:Franks at See also:Orleans (511), and of the Burgundians at Epaone (517); several councils of the kingdoms of the Franks, chiefly at Orleans; and finally, the synods of the middle of the 8th century, under the influence of St See also:Boniface. Evidently the impulse towards unity had to come from without; it began with the See also:alliance between the See also:Carolingians and the Papacy, and was accentuated by the recognition of the liber canonum.

In Spain the case, on the contrary, is that of a strong centralization round the see of See also:

Toledo. Thus we find Spanish canon law In Spain. embodied in a collection which, though perhaps not official, was circulated and received everywhere; this was the Spanish collection, the Hispana.3 The collection is well put together and includes almost all the important ' Published by Quesnel in his editio; of the See also:works of St See also:Leo, vol. ii. (Paris, 1675) ; reproduced by the '"others Ballerini, with learned See also:dissertations, Opera S. Leonis, vol. iii. , Migne, P.L. 56. 2 Malnory, Saint Cesaire d'Arles (Paris, 1894). Collectio canonum Ecclesiae Hispanae (See also:Madrid, 18o8); reproduced in Migne, P.L. 84.canonical documents. In the first part are contained the councils, arranged according to the regions in which they were held: Greek councils, following a translation of Italian origin, but known by the name of Hispana; African councils, Gallican councils and Spanish councils. The latter, The Hispana which form the local See also:section, are further divided into several classes: firstly; the synods held under the Roman See also:empire, the chief being that of See also:Elvira 4 (c. 300); next the texts belonging to the See also:kingdom of the Suevi, after the See also:conversion of these barbarians by St See also:Martin of See also:Braga: these are, the two councils of Braga (563 and 572), and a sort of See also:free translation or See also:adaptation of the canons of the Greek councils, made by Martin of Braga; this is the document frequently quoted in later days under the name of Capitula See also:Martini papae; thirdly, the decisions of the councils of the Visigothic Church, after its con-version to Catholicism.

Nearly all these councils were held at Toledo, beginning with the great council of 589. The series continued up to 694 and was only interrupted by the Mussulman invasion. Finally, the second part of the Hispana contains the papal decretals, as in the collection of Dionysius. From the middle of the 9th century this collection was' to become even more celebrated; for, as we know, it served as the basis for the famous collection of the False Decretals. The Churches of Great See also:

Britain and See also:Ireland remained still longer outside the centralizing movement. Their contribution towards the later system of canon law consisted in Great two things: the Penitentials and the influence of the Britain Irish collection, the other sources of local law not and having been known to the predecessors of Gratian Ireland. nor to Gratian himself. The Penitentials 5 are collections intended for the guidance of confessors in estimating the penances to be imposed for various sins, according to the discipline in force in the Anglo- Peniten Saxon countries. They are all of Anglo-Saxon or tials. Irish origin, and although certain of them were com- piled on the See also:continent, under the influence of the See also:island missionaries, it seems quite certain that a Roman See also:Penitential has never existed.6 They are, however, of difficult and uncertain ascription, since the collections have been largely amended and remodelled as practice required. Among the most important we may mention those bearing the names of Vinnianus (d. 589), See also:Gildas (d. 583), See also:Theodore of See also:Canterbury (d.

69o), the See also:

Venerable See also:Bede (d. 735) and Egbert of See also:York (732-767); the Penitentials which are ascribed to St Columbanus, the founder of Luxeuil and See also:Bobbio (d. 615), and Cumean (Cumine Ailbha, See also:abbot of See also:Iona); in the Frankish kingdom the most interesting work is the Penitential of Halitgar, bishop of See also:Cambrai 7 from 817 to 831. As penances had for a long time been lightened, and the books used by confessors began to consist more and more of instructions in the See also:style of the later moral See also:theology (and this is already the case of the books of Halitgar and Rhabanus Maurus), the canonical collections began to include a greater or smaller number of the penitential canons. The Irish collection,8 though it introduced no important documents into the law of the Western Church, at least set canonists the example of quoting passages from the Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers. This col- col collection. lection seems to date from the 8th century; besides the usual sources, the author has included several documents of local origin, beginning with the pretended See also:synod of St See also:Patrick. 4 L. See also:Duchesne, " Le Concile d'Elvire " in the Melanges Renier. 6 For the Penitentials, see Wasserschleben, See also:Die Bussordnungen der abendlandischen Kirche (See also:Halle,1851) ; Mgr.H.J.Schmitz, Die Bussbiicher and die Bussdisciplin der Kirche (2 vols., See also:Mainz, 1883, 1898). 6 This is proved, in spite of the contrary opinions of Wasserschleben and Schmitz, by M. See also:Paul See also:Fournier, " Etude sur See also:les Penitentiels," in the Revue d'histoire et de litterature religieuses, vol. vi.

(1901), pp. 289-317, and vol. vii., 1902, pp. 59-70 and 121-127. ' In Migne, P.L. 105, col. 651. 6 Edited by Wasserschleben (See also:

Giessen, 1874). See also P. Fournier, " De l'influence de la collection irlandaise sur la formation des collections canoniques," in Nouvelle Revue historigue de See also:droit fran-4ais et itranger, vol. See also:xxiii, note I, In the very middle of the 9th century a much enlarged edition of the Hispana began to be circulated in See also:France. To this rich collection the author, who assumes the name of Isidore, The false the saintly bishop of See also:Seville, added a See also:good number decreta/s of apocryphal documents already existing, as well as a series of letters ascribed to the popes of the earliest centuries, from See also:Clement to See also:Silvester and See also:Damasus inclusive, thus filling up the See also:gap before the decretal of Siricius, which is the first genuine one in the collection. The other papal letters only rarely show signs of alteration or falsification, and the text of the councils is entirely respected). From the same source and at the same date came two other forged documents—firstly, a collection of Capitularies, in three books, ascribed to a certain See also:Benedict (See also:Benedictus Levita),2 a deacon of the church of Mainz; this collection, in which See also:authentic documents find very little place, stands with regard to civil legislation exactly in the position of the False Decretals with regard to canon law.

The other document, of more limited See also:

scope, is a group of Capitula given under the name of Angilram, bishop of See also:Metz. It is now- adays admitted by all that these three collections come from the same source. For a study of the See also:historical questions connected with the famous False Decretals, see the See also:article DECRETALS (FALSE); here we have only to consider them with reference to the place they occupy in the formation of ecclesiastical law. In spite of some hesitation, with regard rather to the official character than to the historical authenticity of the letters attri- buted to the popes of the earlier centuries, the False Decretals were accepted with confidence, together with the authentic texts which served as a See also:passport for them. All later collections availed themselves indiscriminately of the contents of this vast collection, whether authentic or forged, without the least suspicion. The False Decretals did not greatly modify nor corrupt the Canon Law, but they contributed much to accelerate its progress towards unity. For they were the last of the chrono- logical collections, i.e. those which give the texts in the order in which they appeared. From this time on, canonists began Syste- to exercise their individual See also:judgment in arranging matte their collections according to some systematic order, cotiec- grouping their materials under divisions more or less eons. happy, according to the object they had in view. This was the beginning of a codification of a common canon law, in which the sources drawn upon lose, as it were, their local character. This is made even more noticeable by the fact that, in a good number of the works extant, the author is not content merely to set forth and classify the texts; but he proceeds to discuss the point, See also:drawing conclusions and sometimes outlining some controversy on the subject, just as Gratian was to do more fully later on. During this period, which extended from the end of the 9th century to the middle of the 12th, we can enumerate about See also:forty systematic collections, of varying value and circulation, which all played a greater or lesser part in preparing the juridical See also:renaissance of the 12th century, and most of which were utilized by Gratian. We need mention only the chief of them —the Collectio Anselmo dedicata, by an unknown author of the See also:Regina end of the 9th century; the Libri duo de synodalibus causis et disciplinis ecclesiasticis,3 compiled about 906 by Regino, abbot of Prum, and dedicated to Hatto of Mainz, relatively a very original See also:treatise; the enormous compilation Burchard. in twenty books of Burchard, bishop of See also:Worms (1112- 1122), the Decretum or Collectarium,4 very widely spread and known under the name of Brocardum, of which the 19th book, dealing with the process of See also:confession, is specially noteworthy.

Towards the end of the nth century, under the 1 The collection of the False Decretals has been published with a long See also:

critical introduction by P. See also:Hinschius, Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae et capitula Angilramni (See also:Leipzig, 1863). For the rest of the bibliography, see DECRETALS (FALSE). 2 The latest edition is in See also:Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. ii. part ii. Edited by Wasserschleben (Leipzig, 184o) ; reproduced by Migne, P.L. 132. ' Edited several times; in Migne, P.L. 140.influence of See also:Hildebrand, the reforming movement makes itself See also:felt in several collections of canons, intended to support the rights of the See also:Holy See and the Church against the pretensions of the emperor. To this group belong an See also:anonymous collection, described by M. P. Fournier as the first See also:manual of the Reform; 5 the collection of See also:Anselm, bishop of See also:Lucca,6 in 13 books (io8o-ro86); that of See also:Cardinal Deusdedit,7 in books dedicated to See also:Poe See also:Victor III. x086-108 Anselm 4 ~ p ( 7) ; Deusdedlt and lastly that of Bonizo,3 bishop of See also:Sutri, in ro books (x089). In the 12th century, the canonical works of Ivo of Chartres9 are of great importance.

His Panormia, compiled about 1095 or x096, is a handy and well-arranged collection in 8 books; as to the Decretum, a weighty Ch of Ivo See also:

Chartres. compilation in 19 books, there seems sufficient See also:proof that it is a collection of material made by Ivo in view of his Panormia. To the 12th century belong the collection in the MS. of See also:Saragossa (Caesaraugustana) to which See also:attention was drawn by See also:Antonio Agustin; that of Cardinal Gregory, called by him the Polycarpus, in 8 books (about 1115); and finally the Liber de misericordia et justitia of Algerus,10 scholasticus of See also:Liege, in 3 books, compiled at latest in 1123. But all these works were to be superseded by the Decretum of Gratian. 2. The Decretum of Gratian and the Corpus Juris Canonici.—The work of Gratian, though prepared and made possible by those of his predecessors, greatly surpasses them in The scientific value and in magnitude. It is certainly Deeretum the work which had the greatest influence on the of See also:Grattan. formation of canon law; it soon became the See also:sole manual, both for teaching and for practice, and even after the publication of the Decretals was the chief authority in the See also:universities. The work is not without its faults; Gratian is lacking in historical and critical See also:faculty; his theories are often hesitating; but on the whole, his treatise is as See also:complete and as perfect as it could be; so much so that no other work of the same kind has been compiled; just as there has never been made another Book of the Sentences. These two works, which were almost contemporary (Gratian is only about two years earlier)," were destined to have the same fate; they were the manuals, one for theology, the other for canon law, in use in all the universities, taught, glossed and commented on by the most illustrious masters. From this period See also:dates the more marked and definitive separation between theology and ecclesiastical law. Of Gratian we know practically nothing. He was a Camaldulensian monk of the See also:convent of St See also:Felix at See also:Bologna, where he taught canon law, and published, probably in 1148, his treatise called at first Concordanlia discordantium canonum, but soon known under the name of the Decretum.

Nowadays, and for some time past, the only part of the Decretum considered is the collection of texts; but it is actually a treatise, in which the author endeavours to piece together a coherent juridical system from the vast body of texts, of widely differing periods and origin, which are furnished by the collections. These texts he inserts bodily in the course of his dissertation; where they do not agree, he divides them into opposite See also:

groups and endeavours to reconcile them; but the really original part of his work are the Dicta Gratiani, inserted between the texts, which are still read. Gratian drew his materials from the existing collections, and especially from the 5 P. Fournier, " Le Premier See also:Manuel canonique de la reforme du XIe siecle," in Melanges de l'Ecole frangaise de Rome, xiv. (1894). 6 Unpublished. ' Edited by Mgr. Pio Martinucci(See also:Venice, 1869). On this collection see See also:Wolf von Glanvell, Die Kanonessammlung des Kardinals Deusdedit (See also:Paderborn, 1905). $ Unpublished. 9 Several times edited; in Migne, P.L. 161.

See P. Fournier, " Les Collections can"niques attribuees a Yves de Chartres," Bibliotheque de l'Ecole de, See also:

Charles (1896 and 1897). 10 Printed in Martene, Nov. Thesaur. anecdot. vol. v. col. 1019. u See P. Fournier, " Deux Controverses sur les origines du Decret de Gratien," in the Revue d'histoire et de litterature religieuses vol. iii. (1898), pp. n. 2 and 3. Dicta ()ratified. richer of them; when necessary, he has recourse to the Roman laws, and he made an extensive use of the works of the Fathers and the ecclesiastical writers; he further made use of the canons of the recent councils, and the recently published decretals, up to and including the Lateran council of 1139. His immense Contents. work consists of three parts (partes).

The first, treating of the sources of canon law and of ecclesiastical persons and offices, is divided according to the method of Paucapalea, Gratian's See also:

pupil, into for distinctiones, which are subdivided into canones. The second part consists of 36 causae (cases proposed for See also:solution), subdivided into quaestiones (the several questions raised by the case), under each of which are arranged the various canones (canons, decretals, &c.) bearing on the question. But causa xxxiii. quaestio 3, headed Tractatus de Poenitentia, is divided like the See also:main part into seven distinctiones, containing each several canones. The third part, which is entitled De Consecratione, gives, in five distinctiones, the law bearing on church ritual and the sacraments. The Mode of following is the method of See also:citation. A reference to citation, the first part indicates the initial words or number of the canon and the number of the distinctio, e.g. can. Propter ecclesiasticas, dist. xviii. or c. 15, d. xviii. The second part is cited by the canon, causa and quaestio, e.g. can. Si quis suadente, C. 17, qu. 4, or c.

29, C. xvii., qu. 4. The treatise De Poenitentia, forming the 3rd quaestio of the 33rd causa of the second part, is referred to as if it were a See also:

separate work, e.g. c. Principium, D. ii. de poenit. or c. 45, D. ii. de poenit. In quoting s. passage from the third part the canon and distinctio are given, e.g. c. Missar. solenn. D. I. de consecrat., or c. 12, D. I. de (.onsecr. Considered from the point of view of official authority, the Decretum occupies an intermediate position very difficult to Authority. define.

It is not and cannot be a really official code, in which every text has the force of a law. It has never been recognized as such, and the pretended endorsement of it by Pope See also:

Eugenius III. is entirely apocryphal. Moreover, it could not have become an official code; it would be impossible to transform into so many laws either the discordant texts which Gratian endeavoured to reconcile or his own Dicta; a treatise on canon law is not a code. Further, there was as yet no See also:idea of demanding an official compilation. The Decretum has thus remained a work of private authority, and the texts embodied in it have only that legal value which they possess in themselves. On the other See also:hand, the Decretum actually enjoys a certain public authority which is unique; for centuries it has been the text on which has been founded the instruction in canon law in all the universities; it has been glossed and commented on by the most illustrious canonists; it has become, without being a body of laws, the first part of the Corpus juris canonici, and as such it has been cited, corrected and edited by the popes. It has thus, by usage, obtained an authority perfectly recognized and accepted by the Church.' Gratian's collection, for the very reason that it had for its aim the creation of a systematic canon law, was a work of a transi- After tional character. Henceforth a significant differentia- Grattan. tion began to appear; the collections of texts, the number of which continued to increase, were clearly separated from the commentaries in which the canonists continued the formation and See also:interpretation of the law. Thus the way was prepared for official collections. The disciples of Gratian, in glossing or commenting on the Decretum, turned to the papal decretals, as they appeared, for See also:information and the determination of doubtful points. Their idea, then,- was to make collections of these points, to support their teaching; this is the origin of those Compilationes which were soon to be embodied in the collection of Gregory IX. But we must not forget that these compilations were intended by their authors to complete the Decretum of Gratian; in them were included the decretals called extravagantes, i.e. quae vagabantur extra Decretum.

This is why we find in them hardly any documents earlier than the time of Gratian, and also why canonists have 1 See Laurin, Introductio in corpus juris canonici, c. vii. p. 73.continued to refer to the decretals of Gregory IX. by the See also:

abbreviation X (Extra, i.e. extra Decretum). There were numerous collections of this kind towards the end of the 12th and at the beginning of the 13th century. Passing over the first Additiones to the Decretum and the Appendix concilii Lateranensis (council of 1179), we "comQuingne- apil will speak only of the Quinque compilationes,2 which dons." served as a basis for the works of See also:Raymond of Penna- forte. The first and most important is the work of See also:Bernard, See also:provost and afterwards bishop of See also:Pavia, namely, the Breviarium extravagantium, compiled about 119o; it included the decretals from See also:Alexander III. to Clement III., together with certain " useful chapters " omitted by Gratian. The important feature of the book is the arrangement of the decretals or sections of decretals in five books, divided into titles (tituli) logically arranged. The five books treat of (1) ecclesiastical persons and dignitaries or See also:judges; (2) See also:procedure; (3) rights, duties and See also:property of the See also:clergy, i.e. benefices, dues, sacraments, &c., with the exception of See also:marriage, which is the subject of book (4); (5) of penalties. There is a well-known See also:hexameter summing up this division: Judea, judicium, clerus, connubia, crimen. This is the division adopted in all the official collections of the Corpus juris. By a See also:bull of the 28th of See also:December 1210 See also:Innocent III. sent to the university of Bologna an authentic collection of the decretals issued during the first twelve years of his pontificate; this collection he had ceused to be drawn up by his See also:notary, Petrus Collivacinus of See also:Benevento, his object being to supersede the collections in circulation, which were incomplete and to a certain extent See also:spurious. This was the Compilatio tertia; for soon cunda." after, Joannes Galensis (John of See also:Wales) collected the und decretals published between the collection of Bernard of Pavia and the pontificate of Innocent III.; and this, though of later date, became known as the Compilatio secunda. The "See also:Quarto." quarta, the author of which is unknown, contained the decretals of the last six years of Innocent III., and the important decrees of the Lateran council of 1215.

..Quints." Finally, in 1226, See also:

Honorius III. made an official presentation to Bologna of his own decretals, this forming the Cornpilatio quinta. The result of all these supplements to Gratian's work, apart from the inconvenience caused by their being so scattered, was the accumulation of a See also:mass of material almost as considerable as the Decretum itself, from which they dfecretals o Gregory tended to split off and form an See also:independent whole, fx. embodying as they did the latest See also:state of the law. From 1230 Gregory IX. wished to remedy this condition of affairs, and gave to his penitentionary, the Dominican Raymond of Pennaforte, the task of condensing the five compilations in use into a single collection, freed from useless and redundant documents. The work was finished in 1234, and was at once sent by the pope to Bologna with the bull Rex pacificus, declaring it to be official. Raymond adopts Bernard of Pavia's division into five books and into titles; in each title he arranges the decretals in chronological order, cutting out those which merely repeat one another and the less germane parts of those which he preserves; but these partes decisae, indicated by the words " et infra" or " et j," are none the less very useful and have been printed in recent See also:editions. Raymond does not attempt any original work; to the texts already included in the Quinque compilationes, he adds only nine decretals of Innocent III. and 196 chapters of Gregory IX. This first official code was the basis of the second part of the Corpus juris canonici. The collection of Gregory IX. is cited as follows: the opening words of. the See also:chapter are given, or else its order or number, then the title to which it belongs; earlier scholars added X (extra); nowadays, this indication is omitted, and the order or number of the title in the book is given 2 By referring to the decretals of Gregory IX. for the texts inserted there, E. See also:Friedberg has succeeded in giving a much abridged edition of the Quinque compilations (Leipzig, 1882). Bernard of Pavia, "Breviarium. " "Compilatio tertia." instead, e.g. Quum olim, de Consuetudine, X.; or cap.

6, de consuet. (I. iv.); that is to say, book I., title iv., de consuetudine, chapter 6, beginning with the words Quum olim. Though Gregory IX. wished to supersede the compilationes, he had no idea of superseding the Decretum of Gratian, still less of Their codifying the whole of the canon law. Though his relation to collection is still in theory the chief See also:

monument of the general ecclesiastical law, it only marked a certain stage and law. was before long to receive further additions. The reason for this is that in most cases the decretals did not formulate any law, but were merely solutions of particular cases, given as See also:models; to arrive at the abstract law it was necessary to examine the solution in each case with regard to the circumstances and thus formulate a rule; this was the work of the canonists. The " decretalists " commented on the new collection, as the " decretists " had done for that of Gratian; but the canonists were not legislators: even the summaries which they placed at the head of the chapters could not be adduced as legislative texts. The abstract law was to be found rather in the Summae of the canonists than in the decretals. Two important results, however, were achieved: on the one hand, supplementary collections on private authority ceased to be made, for this Gregory IX. had forbidden; on the other hand, the collections were no longer indefinitely swelled by the addition of new decisions in particular cases, those already existing being enough to form a basis for the codification of the abstract law; and for this reason subsequent collections contain as a rule only the " constitutions " of popes or councils, i.e. rules laid down as of general application. Hence arose a separation, which became more and more marked, between legislation and See also:jurisprudence. This See also:change was not produced suddenly, the old method being at first adhered to. In 1245 Innocent IV. sent to the universities a collection of 45 decretals, with the order that they should be inserted under their proper titles in the collection of Gregory IX. In 1253 he sent a further See also:list of the first words (principia) of the complementary constitutions and decretals; but the result was practically nil and the popes gave up this system of successive additions.

It was, however, found expedient to publish a new official collection. At the instance of the university of Bologna, Boniface VIII., himself an eminent canonist, had this prepared by a See also:

committee of canonists and published it in 1298. As it came as an addition to the five books of Gregory IX., it was called the See also:sixth book, the Liber The Sextus. It includes the constitutions subsequent to •'Liber 1234, and notably the decrees of the two ecumenical Sextus." councils of See also:Lyons, and is arranged in books and titles, as above described; the last title, de regulis juris, contains no less than eighty-eight legal axioms, mostly borrowed from Roman law. The Liber Sextus is cited like the decretals of Gregory IX., only with the addition of: in sexto (in VI°.). The same observations apply to the next collection, the Clementinae. It was prepared under the care of Clement V., and The even promulgated by him in See also:consistory in See also:March 1314; cle,nen- but, in consequence of the See also:death of the pope, which tinge." took place almost immediately after, the publication and despatch of the collection to the universities was postponed till 1317, under John XXII. It includes the constitutions of Clement V., and above all, the decrees of the council of See also:Vienne of 1311, and is divided, like preceding collections, into books and titles; it is cited in the same way, with the additional indication Clem-(entina). At this point the official collections stop. The two last, which have found a place in the editions of the Corpus, are t?xtrava- collections of private authority, but in which all the gantes" of documents are authentic. Evidently the strict pro- John hibition of the See also:publishing of collections not approved xxu. by the Holy See had been forgotten. The Extrava- gantes (i.e. extra collectiones publicas) of John XXII. number 20, and are classified under fourteen titles.

The Extra-And communes i.e. coming from several See also:

man ness.. ' vagantes ( popes) number 73, from Boniface VIII. to See also:Sixtus IV. (1484), %nd are classified in books and titles. These two collectionswere included in the edition of See also:Jean Chappuis in 1500; they passed into the later editions, and are considered as forming part of the Corpus juris canonici. As such, and without receiving any complementary authority, they have been corrected and re-edited, like the others, by the Correctores roman. They are cited, like the decretals, with a further indication of the collection to which they belong: Extray. Jo. XXII., or inter-See also:comet-.(ones). Thus was closed, as the canonists say, the Corpus juris canonici; but this expression, which is See also:familiar to us nowadays, is only a See also:bibliographical See also:term. Though we find in the 15th century, for example, at the council of See also:Basel the The See also:uri pus juris expression corpus juris, obviously suggested by the canonici." Corpus juris See also:civilis, not even the official edition of Gregory XIII. has as its title the words Corpus juris canonici, and we do not meet with this title till the Lyons edition of 1671. The history of the canonical collections forming the Corpus juris would not be complete without an account of the labours of which they were the object. We know that the universities of the middle ages contained a Faculty of Decrees, with or without a Faculty of Laws, i.e. civil law.

The former made doctores decretorum, the latter doctores legum. The teaching of the magistri consisted in oral lessons (lecturae) directly based on the text. The See also:

short remarks explanatory of words in the text, originally written in the margin, became the See also:gloss which, formed thus by successive additions, took a permanent form and The glosses. was reproduced in the See also:manuscripts of the Corpus, and later in the various editions, especially in the official Roman edition of 1582; it thus acquired by usage a kind of semi-official authority. The chief of the glossatores of the Decretum of Gratian were Paucapalea, the first See also:disciple of the See also:master, See also:Rufinus (1160-1170), John of See also:Faenza (about 1170), Joannes Teutonicus (about 1210), whose glossary, revised and completed by Bartholomeus Brixensis (of See also:Brescia) became the glossa ordinaria decreti. For the decretals we may mention See also:Vincent the Spaniard and Bernard of Botone (Bernardus Parmensis, d. 1263), author of the Glossa ordinaria. That on the Liber Sextus is due to the famous Joannes Andreae (c. 1340); and the one which he began for the Clementines was finished later by Cardinal Zabarella (d. 1417). The commentaries not so entirely concerned with the text were called Apparatus; and Summae was the name given to general See also:treatises. The first of these works are of See also:capital importance in the formation of a systematic canon The sum_ law.

Such were the Summae of the first disciples of mae." Gratian: Paucapalea (1150),1 Rolando See also:

Bandinelli 2 (afterwards Alexander III., c. 1150), Rufinus 3 (c. 1165), EtieBne of Tournai4 (Stephanus Tornacensis, c. 1168), John of Faenza (c. :170), See also:Sicard, bishop of See also:Cremona (c. 1180), and above all Huguccio (c. 1180). For the Decretals we should mention: Bernard of Pavia b (c. 1195), Sinibaldo See also:Fieschi (Innocent IV., c. 1240), See also:Henry of See also:Susa (d. 1271), commonly called (cardinalis) Hostiensis, whose Summa Hostiensis or Summa aurea is a work of the very highest order; Wilhelmus Durantis or Durandus, Joannes Andreae, See also:Nicolas de Tudeschis (abbas siculus), &c. The 15th century produced few original treatises; but after the council of Trent the Corpus juris was again commented on by distinguished canonists, e.g. the Jesuit Paul Laymann (1575--1635), the Portuguese Agostinho Barbosa (1590-1649), Manuel Gonzalez Tellez (d.

1649) and Prospero Fagnani (1598-1687), who, although See also:

blind, was secretary to the See also:Congregation of the Council. But as time goes on, the works gradually lose the character of commentaries on the text, and develop into ex-positions of the law as a whole. 1 Edited by Schulte, Die Summa des Paueapaiea (Giessen, 1890). 2 Edited by Thaner, Die Summa Magistei Rolandi (See also:Innsbruck, 1874); later by Gietl, Die Sentenzen Rolands (See also:Freiburg See also:im B., 1891). 3 Edited by H. See also:Singer, Die Summa Decretorum des Magister Rufinus (Paderborn, 1902). 4 Edited by Schulte, Die Summe des Stephanus Tornacensis (Giessen, 1891). s He made a Summa of his own collection, ed. E. Laspeyres, Bernardi Papiensis Summa Decretalium (Mainz, 1860). The commentaries of Innocent IV. and Henry of Susa have been frequently published. The study of canon law.

We can mention here only the chief editions of the Corpus. The council of Trent, as we know, ordered that the official books Editions. of the Roman Church—sacred books, liturgical books, &c.—should be issued in official and more correct editions; the compilations of ecclesiastical law were also re- vised. The See also:

commission of the Correctores romani,1 established about 1563 by Pius IV., ended its work under Gregory the glosses, appeared at Rome in 1582. See also:Richter's edition (2 vols., Leipzig, 1839) remains valuable, but has been greatly surpassed by that of E. Friedberg (Leipzig, 1879-1881). Many editions contain also the Institu- tions composed at the command of Paul IV. (1555- 1559) by Giovanni See also:Paolo Lancelotti, a See also:professor of Bologna, on the See also:model of the Institutes of Justinian. The work has merits, but has never been officially approved. Though the collections of canon law were to receive no more additions, the source of the laws was not dried up; decisions of councils and popes continued to appear; but there was no attempt made to collect them. Canonists obtained the recent texts as they could. Moreover, it was an See also:epoch of trouble: the great See also:Schism of the West, the profound divisions which were its result, the abuses which were to issue in the See also:Reformation, were conditions little favourable for a reorganization of the ecclesiastical laws. Thus we are brought to the third period.

3. After the Council of Trent.—The numerous important decrees made by the council of Trent, in the second part of its sessions, called de reformation, are the starting-point of the canon law in its latest stage, jus novissimum; it is this which is still in force in the Roman Church. It has in no way undermined the official status of the Corpus juris; but it has completed the legislation of the latter in many important respects, and in some eases reformed it. The law during this period, as abstracted from the texts and compilations, suggests the following remarks. The laws are formulated in general terms, and the decisions in particular cases relegated to the sphere of jurisprudence; and the canonists have definitely lost the function which See also:

fell to them in the 12th and 13th centuries: they receive the law on authority and no longer have to deduce it from the texts. The legislative power is powerfully centralized in the hands of the pope: since the reforming decrees of the council of Trent it is the pontifical constitutions alone which have made the common law; the ecumenical council, doubtless, has not lost its power, but none were held until that of the Vatican (1870), and this latter was unable to occupy itself with matters of discipline. Hence the separation, increasingly marked, between the common law and the local laws, which cannot derogate from the common law except by concession of the Holy See, or by right of a lawfully authorized custom. This centralization, in its turn, has greatly increased the tendency towards unity and uniformity, which have reached in the present practice of the Roman Church a degree never known before, and considered by some to be excessive. If we now consider the laws in themselves, we shall find that the dispersed condition of the legislative documents has not been modified since the See also:closure of the Corpus juris; See also:Dispersion on the contrary, the enormous number of pontifical of the texts. constitutions, and of decrees emanating from the Roman Congregations, has greatly aggravated the situation; moreover, the attempts which have been made to resume the interrupted process of codification have entirely failed. As regards the texts, the canon law of to-day is in a very similar position to that of See also:English law, which gave rise to J. S. See also:Mill's saying: " All ages of English history have given one 1 The history of this commission and the rules which it followed for editing the Decretum, will be found in Laurin, Introductio in corpus juris canonici, p.

63, or in the Prolegomena to Friedberg's edition of the Decretum.another See also:

rendezvous in English law; their several products may be seen all together, not interfused, but heaped one upon another, as many different ages of the See also:earth may be read in some perpendicular section of its See also:surface." z Nothing has been abrogated, except in so far as this has been implicitly demanded by subsequent laws. From this result insoluble controversies and serious uncertainties, both in the study and practice of the law; and, finally, it has become impossible for most See also:people to have a first-hand knowledge of the actual laws. For this third period, the most important and most consider-able of the canonical texts is the body of disciplinary decrees of the council of Trent (1545-1563). In consequence Decrees of the See also:prohibition issued by Pius IV., they have not of the been published separately from the dogmatic texts council of and other acts, and have not been glossed; 3 but their Trent. official interpretation has been reserved by the popes to the " Congregation of the cardinal interpreters of the Council of Trent," whose decisions form a vast collection of jurisprudence. Next in importance come the pontifical constitutions, which are collected together in the Bullarium; but this is a collection of private authority, if we except t the Ponstifidtcaul ~'~ - Bullarium of Benedict XIV., officially published by tions. him in 1747; further, the Bullarium is a compilation arranged in chronological order, and its dimensions make it rather unwieldy. In the third place come the decrees of the Roman Congregations, which have the force of law. Several of these See also:organs of the papal authority have published official collections, in which more place is devoted to jurisprudence than to laws; several others have only private compilations, or even none at all, among others the most important, viz. the Holy See also:Office (sec See also:CURIA See also:ROMANA). The resulting confusion and uncertainty may be imagined. These drawbacks were felt a long time back, and to this feeling we owe two attempts at a supplementary codification which were made in the 16th century, both of which aie ..Giber known under the name of Liber septimus. The first septimus" was of private origin, and had as its author Pierre of P-Mathieu, the Lyons jurist (1563-1621); it appeared marhieu. in 1590 at Lyons. It is a continuation of the Extravagantes communes, and includes a selection of papal constitutions, from Sixtus IV. (1471-1484) to Sixtus V.

(1585-1590) inclusive, with the addition of a few earlier documents. It follows the order of the decretals. This collection has been of some service, and appears as an appendix in many editions of the Corpus juris; the chief reason for its failure is that it has no official See also:

sanction. The second attempt was official, but it came to nothing. It was connected with the movement of reform and revision which followed the council of Trent. Immediately after the publication of the official edition of the Corpus juris, Gregory XIII. appointed a committee of cardinals charged with the task of drawing up a Liber septimus. Sixtus V. hurried on its See also:execution, which was rapidly proceeded with, mainly owing to Cardinal Pinelli, who submitted the draft of it to Clement VIII. of Clement The pope had this Liber VII. printed as a basis for Sul. further researches; but after long deliberations the volume was suppressed, and the idea of a fresh codification was abandoned. The collection included the decrees of the council of Trent, and a number of pontifical constitutions, arranged in the order of the titles of the decretals." But even had it been promulgated, it is doubtful whether it would have improved the situation. It would merely have added another collection to the previous ones, which were already too voluminous, without resulting in any useful abrogations. 2 Quoted by Hogan, Clerical Studies, p. 235. 3 There are innumerable editions of the council of Trent.

That which is favoured by canonists is Richter's edition (Leipzig, 1863), in which each chapter de ref ormatione is followed by a selection of decisions of the S.C. of the council. ° Republished by F. Sentis, from one of the few copies which have escaped destruction: Clementis Papae VIII. Decretales, quae vulgo nuncupantur Liber septimus Decretahum Clementis VIII. (Freiburg im 1_i., 187o). The "Correctores roman)." " Institutiones See also:

Lance-Iota." Final state of the law. Decrees of the Curia. 4. The Future Codification.—Neither Clement VIII. nor, at a later date, Benedict XIV., could have dreamt of the See also:radical reform at present in course of execution. Instead of accumulating the texts of the laws in successive collec- tions, it is proposed entirely to recast the system of editing them. This codification in a series of short articles was suggested by the example of the See also:French codes, the history of which during the 19th century is well known. From all quarters the See also:Catholic episcopate had submitted to the Vatican council petitions in this tense.

" It is absolutely clear," said some French bishops, " and has for a long time past been universally acknowledged and asserted, that a revision and reform of the canon law is necessary and most urgent. As matters now stand, in consequence of the many and See also:

grave changes in human affairs and in society, many laws have become useless, others difficult or impossible to obey. With regard to a great number of canons, it is a See also:matter of dispute whether they are still in force or are abrogated. Finally, in the course of so many centuries, the number of ecclesiastical laws has increased to such an extent, and these laws have accumulated in such immense collections, that in a certain sense we can well say: We are crushed beneath the laws, obruimur legibus. Hence arise See also:infinite and inextricable difficulties which obstruct the study of canon law; an immense See also:field for controversy and litigation; a thousand perplexities of See also:conscience; and finally contempt for the laws." 1 We know how the Vatican council had to separate without approaching the question of canonical reform; but this general desire for a recasting of the ecclesiastical code was taken up again on the initiative of Rome. On the 19th of March 1904, Pius X. published a Motu proprio, " de ecclesiae legibus Decision of ptus x. in unum redigendis." After briefly reviewing the present condition of the canonical texts and collections, he pointed out its inconvenience, referred to the many See also:requests from the episcopate, and decreed the preparation of a general code of canon law. This immense undertaking involved the codification of the entire canon law, drawing it up in a clear, short and precise form, and introducing any expedient modifications and reforms. For this purpose the pope appointed method. a commission of cardinals, of which he himself became See also:president; also a commission of " consultors " See also:resident at Rome, which asked for a certain amount of assistance from canonists at various universities and seminaries. Further, the assembled bishops of each province were invited to give their See also:opinion as to the points in which they considered the canon law might profitably be modified or abrogated. Two consultors had the See also:duty of separately drawing up a preliminary plan for each title, these projects being twice submitted for the deliberation of the commission (or sub-commission) of consultors, the version adopted by them being next submitted to the commission of cardinals, and the whole finally sent up for the papal sanction. These commissions started work at the end of 1904. Local Law.—The common law of the Roman Church cannot by itself uniformly regulate all the churches of the different nations; each of them has its own local law, which local taw. we must briefly mention here.

In theory, this law has as its author the local ecclesiastical authorities, councils or bishops; but this is true only for laws and regulations which are in See also:

harmony with the common law, merely completing or defining it. But if it is a question of derogating from the common law, the authority of the Holy See must intervene to legalize these derogations. This intervention takes the form either of " indults," i.e. graceful concessions granted at the See also:request of the episcopate, or of special approbation of conciliary resolutions. It would, however, be impossible to mention any compilations containing only local law. Whether in the case of See also:national or provincial councils, or of diocesan synods, the chief object of the decrees is to reinforce, define or apply the law; the See also:measures which constitute a derogation have only a small place in them. It is, then, only in a limited sense that we can see a local canon law in the councils of the various regional 1 Omnium concilii Vaticani .. documentorum collectio, per Conradum Martin (Paderborn, 1873), P. 152.churches. Having made this remark, we must distinguish between the countries which are still subject to the system of concordats and other countries. In the case of the former, the local law is chiefly founded on the See also:concordat (q.v.), including the derogations and privileges resulting from it. The chief thing to note is the countries existence, for these countries, of a civil-ecclesiastical subject to law, that is to say, a body of regulations made by the con- civil authority, with the consent, more or less explicit, cotdats. of the Church, about ecclesiastical matters, other than spiritual; these dispositions are chiefly concerned with the nomination or See also:confirmation by the state of ecclesiastics to the most important benefices, and with the See also:administration of the property of the Church; sometimes also with questions of jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, concerning the persons or property of the Church. It is See also:plain that the agreements under the concordats have a certain See also:action upon a number of points in the canonical laws; and all these points go to constitute the local concordatory law. This is the case for See also:Austria, Spain, See also:Portugal, See also:Bavaria, the Prussian See also:Rhine provinces, See also:Alsace, See also:Belgium, and, in See also:America, See also:Peru.

Up to 1965 it was also the case in France, where the ancient local customs now continue, pending the reorganization of the Church without the concordat. We do not imply that in other countries the Church can always find exemption from legislative measures imposed upon her by the civil authorities, for example, in See also:

Italy, See also:Prussia and See also:Russia; but here it is a situation de facto rather than de lure, which the Church tolerates for the See also:sake of convenience; and these regulations only form part of the local canon law in a very irregular sense. In other countries the episcopal assemblies See also:lay down the local law. See also:England has its council of See also:Westminster (1852), the See also:United States their plenary councils of See also:Baltimore (1852, 1866, other 1884), without mentioning the diocesan synods; and countries. the whole of Latin America is ruled by the special law of its plenary council, held at Rome in 1899. The same is the case with the Eastern Churches united to the Holy See; following the example of the famous council of See also:Lebanon for the See also:Maronites, held in 1730, and that of Zamosc for the Ruthenians, in 1720, these churches, at the See also:suggestion of Leo XIII., have drawn up in plenary assembly their own local law: the Syrians at Sciarfa in 1888; the Ruthenians at Leopol in 1891; and a little later, the See also:Copts. The framing of local law will certainly be more clear and more easy when the general code of canon law has been published. Demand for codification. For the Greek Church : Pitra, Juris ecdesiae graecorum historia et monumenta (Rome, 1864); the later history of the Greek law: Zachariae, Historiae juris graecorum delineatio (See also:Heidelberg, 1839) ; Mortreuil, Histoire du droit byzantin (Paris, '843–1846); the recent texts in the Conciliorum Collectio lacensis, vol. ii.; Acta et decreta s. conciliorum, quae ab episcopis rituum orientalium ab a. 1682 usque ad a. 1789 indeque ad a. 1869 sunt celebrata (Freiburg, 1876). Short manual of Institutions: Jos.

Papp-Szilagyi, Enchiridion juris See also:

ea-I. orientalis catholicae (Magno-Varadini, 1862). For recent canonical texts: Richter's edition of the council of Trent (Leipzig, 1863); the Collectanea S.C. de Propaganda Fide (Rome, 1893); the Bullarium, a collection of papal acts and constitutions; the editions of Cocquelines (28 v5ls.,Rome,1733–1756), and of See also:Cherubini (19 vols., See also:Luxemburg, 1727–1758), which are better than the enlarged reprint of See also:Turin, which was unfinished (it goes up to 1730). The official edition of the Bullarium of Benedict XIV, (4 vols., Rome, 1754–1758) has been reprinted several times and is of great importance; the continuation of the Bullarium since Benedict XIV. has been published by Barberi, Bullarii romani continuatio, in 20 vols., going up to the fourth year of Gregory XVI. Every year, since 1854, has been printed a collection of pontifical acts, Acta Pii IX., Acta Leonis XIIL, &c., which are the equivalents of the Bullarium. Dictionaries: See also:Durand de Maillane, Dictionnaire canonique (Paris, 1786), re-edited by See also:Andre under the title, Cours alphabeti ue et methodique de droit canonique, and by See also:Wagner (Paris, 1894), has Gallican tendencies; Ferraris, Prompta bibliotheca canonica, &c., several new and enlarged editions; the best is that of Migne (1866), completed by See also:Father Bucceroni, Ferraris Supplementum (Rome, 1899). Articles on canon law in Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexicon (2nd ed., Freiburg, 188o et seq.) ; Hauck, Realencyklopadie See also:fur prot. Theologie and Kirche (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1877–1888) ; Vacant-Mangenot's Dictionnaire de theologie catholique, in course of publication (Paris, 1899 et seq.). See also:Periodicals: Analecta juris pontificii, ed. by Mgr. Chaillot (1863–1889) ; Analecta ecclesiastica (since 1893) ; Acta Sanctae sedis (since '865); Archiv fur kathol. Kirchenrecht (since 1857); Le Canoniste contemporain (since 1878). (A. Bo.*) Canon Law in England and in the See also:Anglican Communion.—There were matters in which the local English and Irish canon law, even before the 16th century, differed from that obtaining on the western part of the See also:European continent.

Thus (I), it has been said that—whereas the See also:

continental canon law recognized a quadripartite division of Church See also:revenue of common right between (a) the bishop, (b) the clergy, (c) the poor, (d) the fabric —the English law maintained a tripartite division—(a) clergy, (b) the poor, (c) the fabric. See also:Lord See also:Selborne (Ancient Facts and See also:Fictions concerning Churches and See also:Tithes, 2nd ed., 1892) denies that there was any division of tithe in England. (2) By the general canon law the See also:burden of repairing the See also:nave, as well as the See also:chancel of the church, was upon the See also:parson or See also:rector who collected the whole tithe. But the custom of England transferred this burden to the parishioners, and some particular local customs (as in the city of See also:London) placed even the burden of repair of the chancel on them. To meet this burden church rates were levied. (3) A church polluted by the shedding of See also:blood, as by See also:suicide or See also:murder, was reconsecrated on the continent. In England the custom was (and is) simply to " reconcile." (4) A much more important difference, if the decision of the Irish See also:court of See also:exchequer chamber upheld in the See also:House of Lords, where the peers were equally divided, correctly stated the English Canon law (Reg. v. Millis, to Cl. & Fin., J34) was in regard to the essentials of marriage. By the general Western canon law before the council of Trent, the parties themselves were said to be the " ministers of the See also:Sacrament " in the case of holy See also:matrimony. The declared consent of the parties to take each other there and then constituted at once (although irregularly) holy matrimony. The presence of See also:priest or witnesses was not necessary.

In Reg. v. Millis, however, it was held that in England it was always otherwise and that here the presence of a priest was necessary. High authorities, however, have doubted the historical accuracy of this decision. (5) The addition of houses of priests to the provincial synods seems See also:

peculiar to England and Ireland. The historical position of the general canon law of the Catholic Church in the English provinces has, since the separation from Rome, been the subject of much See also:consideration by English lawyers and ecclesiastics. The view taken by the See also:king's courts, and acquiesced in by the ecclesiastical courts, since Henry. VIII., is that the Church of England was always an independent national church, subject indeed to the general principles of thejus See also:commune ecclesiasticum (Whitlock J. in Ever v. See also:Owen, See also:God-See also:bolt's Reports, 432), but unbound by any particular constitutions of council or pope; unless those constitutions had been " received " here by English councils, or so recognized by English courts (secular or spiritual) as to become part of the ecclesiastical custom of the See also:realm. See also:Foreign canon law never See also:bound (so it has been taught) proprio vigore. The sources of English ecclesiastical law (purely ecclesiastical) were therefore (1) the principles of the jus commune ecclesiasticum; (2) foreign particular constitutions received here, as just explained; (3) the constitutions and canons of English synods (cf. Phill. Ecc.

Law, part i. .ch. iv., and authorities there cited). z. On the existence of this jus commune ecclesiasticum and that the Church of England, in whatever sense independent, takes it over until she repeals it, see Escott v. Mastin, 4 Moo. P.C.C. 119. Lord See also:

Brougham, in delivering the judgment, speaks of the "common law prevailing for 1400 years over Christian See also:Europe," and (p. 137) says that " nothing but See also:express enactment can abrogate the common law of all Christendom before the Reformation of the Anglican Church." 2. As to foreign particular constitutions in England, there are a great number of them, of which it has been and is admitted, that they have currency in England. However papal in their origin, See also:post-Reformation lawyers have regarded them as valid, unless they can be shown to be contrary to the king's See also:prerogative, or to the common or See also:statute law of the realm. To this doctrine express statutory authority (as the events have happened) has been given by 25 See also:Hen.

VIII. c. 19, See also:

sect. 7. A striking example of the doctrine is furnished by the See also:decree of Innocent III. in the Fourth Lateran Council against pluralities. This decree was enforced in the court of See also:Arches against a pluralist clerk in "848 (Border v. See also:Mayor, " See also:Roberts, 614). The courts of common law from Lord See also:Coke's time downwards have recognized this " constitution of the pope " (as the See also:queen's See also:bench called it in 1598). The exchequer chamber, in 1837, declared it to have " become part of the common law of the See also:land " (Alstan v. Allay, 7 A. and E. 289). 3. The particular constitutions of English synods are numerous and See also:cover a large field.

At least in legal theory, the only distinction between pre-Reformation and post-Reformation constitutions is in favour of the former—so long as they do not contravene the royal prerogative or the law of the land (see 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19). The most important are collected together and digested (so far as regards England) in Lyndwood's Provinciale, a work which remains of great authority in English courts. These constitutions are again divided into two classes: (a) provincial constitutions promulgated by provincial synods, usually in the name of the presiding See also:

archbishop or bishop; and (b) decrees of papal legates, See also:Otho in 1236 and Othobon (Ottobuono de' Fieschi, afterwards Pope Adrian V.) in "269. Canons passed since 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19 have not the See also:parliamentary confirmation which that See also:act has been held to give to previous canons, and do not necessarily bind the laity, although made under the king's See also:licence and ratified by him. This doctrine laid down by Lord See also:Hardwicke in See also:Middleton v. See also:Croft (2 Stra. "056) was approved in 186o in See also:Marshall v. Bp. of See also:Exeter (L.R.

3 H.L. 17). Nevertheless, there are many provisions in these post-Reformation canons which are declaratory of the ancient usage and law of the Church, and the law which they thus See also:

record is binding on the laity. The chief body of English post-Reformation canon law is to be found in the canons of 1603, amended in 1865 and 1888. The canons of 164o are apparently upon the same footing as those of 1603; notwithstanding objections made at the time that they were void because See also:convocation continued to sit after the See also:dissolution of See also:parliament. The opinion of all the judges taken at the time was in favour of the legality of this procedure. 13 See also:Car. ii. c. 12 simply prpvided that these canons should not be given statutory force by the operation of that act. In addition to the enactment of canons (strictly so-called) the English provincial synods since the Henrician changes have legislated—in 1570 by the enactment of the Thirty-Nine Articles, in 1661 by approving the present Book of Common See also:Prayer, and in 1873 by approving shorter forms of See also:matins and evensong. The distinction between pre-Henrician and post-Henrician procedure lies in the requirement, since 25 Hen. VIII., of the royal licence and confirmation. Apparently diocesan synods may still enact valid canons without the king's authority; but these bodies are not now called.

The prevailing legal view of the position of the Church of England in regard to canon law has been just stated, and that is the view taken by judicial_ authority for the past three centuries. On the other hand, it is suggested by, e.g., the See also:

late Professor See also:Maitland, that it was not, in fact, the view taken here in the later middle ages—that in those ages there was no theory that " reception " here was necessary to validate papal decrees. It is said by this school of legal historians that, from the Con-quest down to Henry VIII., the Church of England was regarded by churchmen not as in any sense as separate entity, but as two provinces of the extra-territorial, super-national Catholic Church, and that the pope at this period was contemplated as the See also:prince ps of this Catholic Church, whose edicts bound everywhere, as those of See also:Augustus had bound in the Roman empire. It is right that this view should be stated, but it is not that of the writer of this article. As to Ireland, in a national synod of the four Irish provinces held at See also:Dublin before the four archbishops, in 1634, a See also:hundred canons were promulgated with the royal licence, containing much matter not dealt with by similar constitutions in England. In 1711, some further canons were promulgated (with royal licence) by another national synod. Some forms of special prayer were appended to these canons. In 1869 the Irish Church Act (32 and 33 Vict. C. 42) " disestablished " the Irish Church, sect. 19 repealed any act of parliament, law or custom whereby the bishops, clergy or laity of the said church were prohibited from holding synods or electing representatives thereto for the purpose of making rules for the well-being and ordering of the said church, and enacted that no such law, &c., should hinder the said bishops, clergy and laity, by such representatives, lay and clerical, and so elected as they shall appoint, from See also:meeting in general synod or See also:convention and in such general synod or convention forming constitutions and providing for future See also:representation of the members of the church in diocesan synods, general convention or otherwise. The Church of Ireland, so set free, created for herself new legislative authorities, unknown to the old canon law, viz. mixed synods of clergy and laity, and a system of representation by See also:election, unknown to See also:primitive or See also:medieval times.

Similar changes had, however, been introduced during the preceding century in some parts of the Anglican communion outside the See also:

British Isles (see infra). Sect. 20 of the same statute kept alive the old ecclesiastical law of Ireland by way of assumed See also:contract (cf. ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION). Under the provisions of this statute, the " archbishops and bishops of the ancient Apostolic and Catholic Church of Ire-land " (so they describe themselves), together with representatives of the clergy and laity, assembled in 1870, in " General Convention," to " provide for the regulation " of that church. This Convention declared that a General Synod of the See also:arch-bishops and bishops, with representatives of the clergy and laity, should have chief legislative power in the Irish Church, with such administrative power as might be necessary and consistent with the church's episcopal constitution. This General Synod was to consist of two Houses—the House of Bishops and the House of Lay and Clerical Representatives. No question was to be carried unless there were in its favour a See also:majority of the clerical and lay representatives, voting either conjointly or by orders, and also a majority of the bishops, should they desire to See also:vote. This General Synod was given full power to alter or amend canons, or to See also:repeal them, or to enact new ones. For any alteration or See also:amendment of " articles, doctrines, See also:rites or rubrics," a two-thirds majority of each order of the representative house was required and a year's delay for consultation of the diocesan synods. Provisions were made as to lay representation in the diocesan synods. The Convention also enacted some canons and a statute in regard to ecclesiastical tribunals (see ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION).

It expressly provided that its own legislation might be repealed or amended by future general synods. In 1871 the General Synod attempted to codify its canon law in forty-eight canons which, " and none other," were to have force and effect as the canons of the Church of Ireland. Since 1871 the General Synod has, from time to time, put forth other canons. The post-Reformation history of canon law in the Anglican communion in See also:

Scotland has differed from the See also:story of that law in the last four centuries in Ireland. After the legislation under See also:William and See also:Mary disestablishing See also:episcopacy in Scotland and subjecting its professors to civil penalties, little attention was given to canon law for many years. Synods of bishops at See also:Edinburgh in 1724 and 1731 dealt with some disputed questions of ritual and ceremonial. In 1743 an assembly of five bishops enacted sixteen canons. A " See also:primus " was to be chosen indifferently from the bishops, but to have no other See also:powers than those of convoking and presiding over synods. He was to hold office only during See also:pleasure of the other bishops. Bishops were to be elected by the presbyters of the district. Such election was subject to the confirmation of the majority of the bishops. In 1811, a " Code of Canons " was enacted by a " General Ecclesiastical Synod," consisting of the bishops, the deans (viz. presbyters appointed by the bishops in each See also:diocese to defend the interests of the presbyters and now for the first time given " decisive " See also:voice in synods) and certain clerical representatives from the " districts " or dioceses.

Future synods, called for the purpose of altering the code, were to consist of two See also:

chambers. The first was to be composed of the bishops; the second to consist of the " deans " and clerical representatives. No law or canon was to be enacted or abrogated, save by the consent of both chambers. These canons were revised in 1828, 1829 and 1838. The code of this last year created diocesan synods, to be held annually and to consist of the bishop, See also:dean and all instituted clergy of the diocese. It also provided for the See also:annual meeting of a purely episcopal synod, which was to receive appeals from either clergy or laity. In 1862-1863, another General Synod further revised and amended the Code of Canons. This revised code enabled the bishop to appoint ,a learned and discreet layman to act as his See also:chancellor, to advise him in legal matters and be his See also:assessor at diocesan synods. Assistant curates and See also:mission priests were, under certain restrictions, given seats in diocesan synods. Male communicants were also permitted to be present at such synods, with a deliberative but not " decisive " voice; unless in special circumstances the bishop excluded them. Canon 46 provides that " if any question shall arise as to the interpretation of this Code of Canons or of any part thereof, the general principles of canon law shall be alone deemed applicable thereto." This See also:provision was re-enacted in Canon 47 of 1876. Canon 51 of 189o, however, weakens this provision.

It enacts that: " The preceding canons shall in all cases be construed in accordance with the principles of the civil law of Scotland. Nevertheless, it shall be lawful, in cases of dispute or difficulty concerning the interpretation of these canons, to See also:

appeal to any generally recognized principles of canon law." The canons of 1862-1863 also provided for a lay See also:share in the election of bishops. In 1890 the 3 2nd canon enacted that the " General Synod " • should thereafter be called the Provincial Synod. The canon law in Scotland before the 16th century was See also:genet.-ally that of the continent of Europe. The usages of the church were similar to those in France, and had not the insular character of those in England and Ireland. The canon law regulating marriage, See also:legitimacy and See also:succession was taken over by the Scottish secular courts (see ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION) and survived as part of the common law of the land almost unimpaired. Thus, the courts recognize marriages by verba de praesenti or by verba de futuro cum copula—in this last matter following a decree of Gregory IX.—and also legitimation per subsequens matrimonium. But though one of the fontes juris Scotiae, canon law never was of itself authoritative in Scotland. In the canons of her national provincial councils (at whose yearly meetings representatives attended on behalf of the king) that country possessed a canon law of her own, which was recognized by the parliament and the popes, and enforced in the courts of law. Much of it, no doubt, was borrowed from the Corpus juris canonici and the English provincial canons. But the portions so adopted derived their authority from the Scottish Church. The general canon law, unless where it has been acknowledged by act of parliament, or a decision of the courts, or sanctioned by the canons of a provincial council, is only received in Scotland according to equity and expediency.

The " See also:

Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States" is the organization of the Anglican Communion in the See also:American colonies before the separation. This communion was subject to " all the laws of the Church of England applicable to its situation " (See also:Murray Hoffman, A Treatise on the Law of the Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, 185o, p. 17). This body of law the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States took over (op. p. 41 et seq.; F. See also:Vinton, A Manual Commentary on the General Canon Law and the Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, 187o, p. 16 et seq.). Much, however, of the English post-Reformation canonical legislation was not applicable to the United States, because of different circumstances, as e.g. a very large portion of the canons of 1603 (Vinton, p. 32). In 1789, a General Convention, consisting of clerical and lay deputies as well as of bishops, assumed for itself and provided for its successors supreme legislative power. The concurrence of both " orders," clerical and lay, was required for the validity of any vote. Since 1853 a lay See also:deputy to the Convention has been required to be a communicant (ib. p.

102). Upon the American bishops numbering more than three, they became a separate " House " from the " Convention." The House of Bishops was given a right to propose measures to the " House of Deputies," and to negative acts of the House of Deputies, provided they complied with certain forms. Similar " constitutions " providing for representation of the laity have been adopted by the different dioceses (Hoffman, op. cit. p. 184 et seq.). Deacons are also admitted to a deciding voice in every diocese but New See also:

Jersey, where they may speak but not vote. A great body of legislation has been put forth by these bodies during the past century. Since 187o, at least, the " Church of the Province of See also:South Africa" has secured See also:autonomy while yet remaining a part of the Anglican Communion. By its constitution of that year the English Church in South Africa adopts the laws and usages of the Church of England, as far as they are applicable to an unestablished church, accepts the three See also:creeds, the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Book of Common Prayer, the decisions of the undisputed general councils, the Authorized English Version of the Scriptures, disclaims the right of altering any of these See also:standards of faith and doctrine, except in agreement with such alterations as may be adopted by a general synod of the Anglican Communion. But in interpreting these standards of faith and doctrine, the Church of the Province of South Africa is not bound by decisions other than those of its own Church courts, or such court as the Provincial Synod may recognize as a tribunal of appeal. The Provincial Synod is the legislative authority subject to a general synod of the Anglican Communion, provided such latter synod include representatives from the Church of South Africa. The Provincial Synod consists of (1) the House of Bishops, (2) the House of the Clergy, (3) the House of the Laity. No See also:resolution can be passed which is not accepted by all three orders.

Bishops are elected by the clergy with the assent of lay representatives, subject to the confirmation of the See also:

metropolitan and comprovincial bishops. The metropolitan is to he consecrated in England by the archbishop of Canterbury. He now bears the title of archbishop. All bishops are to enter into a contract to obey and maintain the constitution and canonsof the province. Canon 18 of the Code of 1870 recognizes the offices of catechist, reader and sub-deacon (Wirgman, The English Church and People in South Africa, p. 223 et seq.). In the West Indies, See also:Canada, See also:Australia and New See also:Zealand, provincial and diocesan synods or conventions have been formed on one or other of the types above mentioned and have enacted canons. (W. G. F.

End of Article: CANON LAW

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