Title I: Of the Competent Forum

The First See is judged by no one.

§ 1. The right of judging belongs only to the Roman Pontiff himself:

1° Those who hold the supreme rulership of peoples, and their sons and daughters, and those to whom there is the right of succeeding next in rulership.

2° Cardinal Fathers.

3° Legates of the Apostolic See, and in criminal cases Bishops, even titular ones.

§ 2. But to the tribunals of the Apostolic See it is reserved to judge:

1° Residential Bishops in contentious cases, with the prescription of can. 1572, Sec. 2 preserved.

2° Dioceses or other ecclesiastical moral persons which do not have a Superior below the Roman Pontiff, such as exempt religions, monastic Congregations, etc.

§ 3. Other causes which the Roman Pontiff has called to his own judgment are seen by the judge whom the Roman Pontiff himself has designated.

In the causes of which in can. 1556, 1557, the incompetence of other judges is absolute.

§ 1. No one can be convened in first instance except before an ecclesiastical judge who is competent by one of the titles which are determined in can. 1560-1568.

§ 2. The incompetence of a judge to whom none of these titles supports is called relative.

§ 3. The actor follows the forum of the defendant; but if the defendant has multiple forums, the choice of forum is granted to the actor.

The following have a necessary forum:

1° Actions concerning spoliation, before the Ordinary of the place where the thing is situated.

2° Causes regarding a benefice, even a non-residential one, before the Ordinary of the place of the benefice.

3° Causes which turn on administration, before the Ordinary of the place where the administration was carried out.

4° Causes which regard inheritances or pious legacies, before the Ordinary of the place of the testator's domicile, unless there is question of the mere execution of the legacy, which must be considered according to the ordinary norms of competence.

§ 1. By reason of domicile or quasi-domicile, anyone can be convened before the local Ordinary.

§ 2. But the Ordinary of domicile or quasi-domicile has jurisdiction over a subject, even an absent one.

§ 1. One who is a traveler in the City, although for a short time, can be cited in the City itself as in his own domicile; but he has the right of calling back home, that is, of asking that he be remitted to his proper Ordinary.

§ 2. One who dwells in the City for a year has the right of declining the forum of the Ordinary and insisting that he be cited before the tribunals of the City.

A vagrant has his proper forum in the place where he actually dwells; a religious, in the place of his own house.

By reason of the thing situated, a party can be convened before the Ordinary of the place where the litigated thing is situated, whenever the action is directed toward the thing.

§ 1. By reason of contract, a party can be convened before the Ordinary of the place in which the contract was entered into or must be fulfilled.

§ 2. But in the act of contract it is permitted to the contracting parties, for the sake of declaring, urging, or fulfilling the obligation, to choose a place in which even absent persons can be cited and convened.

§ 1. By reason of delict, the defendant obtains a forum in the place of the committed delict.

§ 2. Although after the delict the defendant has departed from the place, the judge of the place has the right of citing him to appear and of issuing sentence against him.

By reason of connection or continence, causes connected among themselves must be heard by one and the same judge, unless the prescription of law obstructs.

By reason of prevention, when two or more judges are equally competent, the right of taking cognizance of the cause belongs to the one who first legitimately convened the defendant by citation.