Article Second. On Ecclesiastical Domicile.

151. Notions. 1. Someone becomes the subject of a particular legislator by the fact that he acquires domicile or quasi-domicile in his territory. Therefore in this place, as far as can be done, it must be accurately determined: a. how someone acquires and loses domicile in a parish; b. how he acquires and loses quasi-domicile in a parish.¹ Domicile in a diocese can be acquired only by means of domicile in some parish of the diocese.

2. Domicile is habitation in a parish with the intention of remaining there perpetually, if nothing calls one away from there; quasi-domicile is habitation in a parish with the intention of remaining there for the greater part of the year.

3. A twofold domicile is distinguished: voluntary domicile, which is acquired of itself, i.e. by one's own choice, and legal or necessary domicile, which is acquired through another or from the disposition of law.

It is clear that one must attend not to civil laws, but to the statutes of ecclesiastical law, where there is question of acquiring or losing ecclesiastical domicile. Therefore the place of domicile is the parish, not a city or town, and the conditions required for acquiring or losing domicile are to be sought from canon law, not from civil law, unless canon law adopts them.

¹ Cf. Laurin, Wesen und Bedeutung des Domizils (Archiv f. k. Kirchenrecht: Bd. 26. S. 165).

152. How it is acquired or lost.

I. On acquiring domicile.

1. For acquiring voluntary domicile two things must concur at the same time: a. the fact of habitation, i.e. that someone actually begins to dwell in some place; and b. the intention of remaining there perpetually, unless some new reason calls him away.

a. Domicile is acquired from the day on which these two are present at the same time; it is not necessary that someone already have dwelt there for some time.

b. If the intention of remaining there perpetually is not established, it must be concluded from various indications which produce moral certitude. Indications of this kind are: constant habitation, the transfer of the greater part of one's goods, the acquisition of immovable goods, an assertion especially confirmed by oath.

c. By ecclesiastical law nothing prevents someone from having several domiciles; however, it is required that he dwell in those places in an almost equal manner, e.g. in wintertime in one place, in summertime in another.

2. The persons determined in law acquire legal domicile: a. a wife acquires the domicile of her husband and, if she has become a widow, retains it until she has acquired another; b. children have the domicile of their parents, so long as they are under their power; a son of the family who has become of age retains domicile in the paternal (maternal) house until, having left it, he has acquired another; c. wards have the domicile of their guardians.

a. Where minors and wards have domicile must be taken from civil law (provincial, not Roman), since canon law disposes nothing concerning this matter. Now by civil law minors and wards can acquire quasi-domicile, but they have and retain the domicile of the father (and, he being deceased, of the mother) or of the guardian.¹

b. The distinction between minor and adult children as regards domicile in the paternal house is this: minors have necessary domicile there, so that they cannot abandon it by their own will, whereas adults have free domicile, so that they can abandon it at will.

II. On losing domicile:

Domicile is lost if these two things concur at the same time: a. actual departure from the place of domicile; and b. the intention of not returning. Just as departure alone from the place of domicile does not suffice for losing domicile, so neither does the intention alone of no longer remaining in that place suffice.

Domicile is lost from the day on which these two things are present at the same time, nor is it necessary that domicile or quasi-domicile have been acquired elsewhere.

III. On acquiring quasi-domicile.

Quasi-domicile is acquired if these two things concur at the same time: a. the fact of habitation in some place; and b. the intention of remaining there for the greater part of the year, i.e. for six months.

a. Quasi-domicile also is acquired from the day on which these two things are present at the same time, nor is it required that someone already have dwelt there for some time.

b. Authors do not agree how long it is necessary, for acquiring quasi-domicile, that someone wish to remain in the place: for some say that it is required that he have the intention of remaining for the greater part of the year and therefore for six months; others judge it sufficient if he have the intention of remaining there for a notable part of the year and therefore for four or five months. Nevertheless, the more recent decrees of the sacred congregations require habitation for the greater part of the year.²

c. For acquiring quasi-domicile in some place, true and properly so-called habitation in that same place is required; it does not suffice that someone migrate in some region, after the manner of an itinerant, from place to place.

d. Therefore public officials, judges, professors, students, male servants, female servants, etc., who by reason of office, study, or business to be carried on stay in some place with the intention of remaining there for a longer time (six months), have quasi-domicile in that place. If the intention of remaining for a longer time in some place is not established, it must be presumed from various indications.

IV. On losing quasi-domicile.

Quasi-domicile is lost if these two things concur at the same time: a. actual departure from the place of quasi-domicile; and b. the intention of not returning.

¹ German Code § 8. 11.

² S. Officium, 7 June 1863.