Canon Law in United States

Canon Law Definition

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

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

This definition of Canon Law is based on The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary. This entry needs to be proofread.

Canon Law Background