Chapter — 1917 Code of Canon Law
Chapter III: Of Opposition of a Third Party
Superseded as law in 1983 — read why this Code still matters. Each canon links to its 1983 counterpart.
If the prescription of a definitive sentence offends the rights of others, these have the extraordinary remedy which is called opposition of a third party, by force of which those who fear injury to their rights from the sentence can impugn the sentence itself before its execution and oppose themselves to it.
Si sententiae definitivae praescriptum iura aliorum offendat, hi habent remedium extraordinarium quod oppositio tertii dicitur, vi cuius qui ex sententia suorum iurium laesionem verentur, possunt sententiam ipsam ante eius exsecutionem impugnare eique se opponere.
§ 1. Opposition can be made at the choice of the recurring person, either by petitioning revision of the sentence by the very judge who rendered it, or by appealing to the superior judge.
§ 2. In either case the opponent must prove that his right has truly been injured or probably will be injured.
§ 3. But the injury must arise from the sentence itself insofar as either it itself is the cause of the injury, or, if it is committed to execution, it will affect the opponent with grave prejudice.
§ 4. If neither is proved, the judge, notwithstanding the opposition of the third party, is to decree the execution of the sentence.
§ 1. Oppositio fieri potest ad recurrentis arbitrium sive postulando revisionem sententiae ab ipso iudice qui eam tulit, sive appellando ad iudicem superiorem.
§ 2. In utroque casu oppositor probare debet ius suum revera esse laesum aut probabiliter laedendum.
§ 3. Laesio autem oriri debet ex ipsa sententia quatenus aut ipsa sit causa laesionis, aut, si exsecutioni mandetur, oppositorem gravi praeiudicio sit affectura.
§ 4. Si neutrum probetur, iudex, non obstante tertii oppositione, sententiae exsecutionem decernat.
Once the instance has been admitted, if the opponent wishes to act in the grade of appeal, he is held to the laws established for appeal; if before the very judge who rendered the sentence, the rules given for incidental causes are to be observed.
Admissa instantia, si oppositor agere velit in gradu appellationis, tenetur legibus pro appellatione statutis; si coram ipso iudice qui sententiam tulit, regulae servandae sunt pro causis incidentibus datae.
When the cause has been won by the opponent, the sentence rendered previously must be changed by the judge according to the instance of the opponent.
Causa ab oppositore victa, sententia antea lata mutanda est a iudice, secundum oppositoris instantiam.