Chapter IV: Of the Instruction of the Criminal Process and of the Constitution of the Defendant

If judicial correction is either insufficient for reparation of scandal and restitution of justice, or cannot be employed because the defendant denies the delict, or has been employed uselessly, the Bishop, or the officialis by his special mandate, is to command that the acts of the inquisition be handed over to the promoter of justice.

The promoter is immediately to prepare the libellus of accusation and exhibit it to the judge according to the norms established in the First Section.

In graver delicts, if the Ordinary considers that, with offense of the faithful, the accused person ministers in sacred things or discharges some spiritual ecclesiastical or pious office or publicly approaches Holy Communion, he can, after the promoter of justice has been heard, prohibit him from sacred ministry, from the exercise of those offices, or even from public participation in Holy Communion according to the norm of can. 2222, Sec. 2.

Likewise, if the judge considers that the accused can strike fear into witnesses or suborn them, or in another way impede the course of justice, he can, after the promoter of justice has been heard, command by his decree that he temporarily leave a town or certain parish, or even that he withdraw to a predefined place and remain there under special vigilance.

The decrees of which in can. 1956, 1957 cannot be rendered unless the defendant has been cited and appears or is contumacious, whether after his first hearing or constitution, or afterward in the course of the process; and against the same decrees no remedy of law is given.

In the remaining matters the rules handed down in the First Section of this Book are to be observed, and in the infliction of penalties the sanctions established in Book Five.