Chapter IX. On the Reckoning of Time and Rescripts

Saving liturgical laws, time, unless something else is expressly provided, is to be reckoned according to the norm of the canons which follow (Can. 31).

§ 1. A day consists of 24 hours to be reckoned continuously from midnight, a week of 7 days.

§ 2. In law under the name of a month comes a space of 30 days, but under the name of a year a space of 365 days, unless month and year are said to be taken as they are in the calendar (Can. 32).

§ 1. In reckoning the hours of the day one must stand by the common usage of the place; but in the private celebration of Mass, in the private recitation of the canonical hours, in receiving sacred communion, and in observing the law of fast or abstinence, even if the usual reckoning of the place is otherwise, one can follow the time of the place, or local time, whether true or mean, or legal time, whether regional or some other extraordinary time.¹

§ 2. As regards the time for urging the obligations of contracts, unless it has been otherwise agreed by express compact, the prescript of the civil law in force in the territory is to be observed (Can. 33).

§ 1. If month and year are designated by their proper name or equivalently, for example, in the month of February, in the next future year, they are to be taken as they are in the calendar.

§ 2. If the term from which is assigned neither explicitly nor implicitly, for example, suspension from the celebration of Mass for a month or two years, three months of vacations in a year, etc., the time is reckoned from moment to moment; and if the time is continuous, as in the first example brought forward, months and years are taken as they are in the calendar; if interrupted, a week is understood as 7 days, a month as 30, a year as 365.

§ 3. If the time consists of one or several months or years, one or several weeks, or finally several days, and the term from which is assigned explicitly or implicitly:

1st. Months and years are to be taken as they are in the calendar;

2nd. If the term from which coincides with the beginning of the day, for example, two months of vacations from the 15th day of August, the first day is computed for completing the enumeration and the time is ended at the beginning of the last day of the same number;

3rd. If the term from which does not coincide with the beginning of the day, for example, the fourteenth year of age, the year of novitiate, eight days from the vacancy of the episcopal see, ten days for appealing, etc., the first day is not computed and the time is ended when the last day of the same number has been completed;

4th. But if the month lacks a day of the same number, for example, one month from the 30th day of January, then according to the diverse case the time is ended at the beginning or at the completion of the last day of the month;

5th. If it is a question of acts of the same kind to be renewed at fixed times, for example, three years for perpetual profession after temporary profession, three years or some other space of time for renewing an election, etc., the time is ended on the same recurring day on which it began, but the new act can be placed through the whole of that same day (Can. 34).

Useful time is understood as that which so belongs to someone for the exercise or prosecution of his right that it does not run for one who is ignorant or unable to act; continuous time, that which suffers no interruption (Can. 35).

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1126, n. 84.

§ 1. Rescripts both of the Apostolic See and of other Ordinaries can be obtained freely by all who are not expressly prohibited.

§ 2. Graces and dispensations of every kind conceded by the Apostolic See are valid even for those bound by censure, saving the prescript of can. 2265, § 2, 2275, n. 3, 2283 (Can. 36).

A rescript can be obtained for another even without his assent; and although he himself can choose not to use the grace conceded through the rescript, nevertheless the rescript is valid before his acceptance, unless something else appears from the added clauses (Can. 37).

Rescripts by which a grace is conceded without an executor interposed have effect from the moment at which the letters were given; the others from the time of execution (Can. 38).

Conditions in rescripts are then only considered essential for the validity of the same when they are expressed by the particles if, provided that, or another of the same signification (Can. 39).

In all rescripts there is understood, even if not expressed, the condition: If the petitions rest upon truth, saving the prescript of can. 45, 1054 (Can. 40).

In rescripts of which there is no executor, the petitions must rest upon truth at the time at which the rescript was given; in the others at the time of execution (Can. 41).

§ 1. The concealment of truth, or subreption, in the petitions does not prevent the rescript from having force and being valid, provided that those things have been expressed which according to the style of the Curia must be expressed for validity.

§ 2. Nor does the statement of falsehood, or obreption, prevent it, provided that either the one cause proposed, or at least one motive cause out of several proposed, is true.

§ 3. A defect of obreption or subreption in only one part of the rescript does not weaken another part, if several graces are conceded together through one rescript (Can. 42).

A grace denied by one Sacred Congregation or Office of the Roman Curia is invalidly conceded by another Sacred Congregation or Office, or by the local Ordinary, even one having power, without the assent of the Sacred Congregation or Office with which or with whom the matter had begun to be treated, saving the right of the Sacred Penitentiary for the internal forum (Can. 43).

§ 1. Let no one seek from another Ordinary a grace denied by his own Ordinary, with no mention made of the denial; but when mention has been made, let the Ordinary not concede the grace, unless the reasons for the denial have been had from the prior Ordinary.

§ 2. A grace denied by the Vicar General and afterward obtained from the Bishop with no mention made of this denial is invalid; but a grace denied by the Bishop cannot validly be obtained from the Vicar General, even when mention of the denial has been made, if the Bishop does not consent (Can. 44).

When the clause Motu proprio is added to rescripts obtained at the petitions of someone, these indeed are valid if in the petitions a truth otherwise necessarily to be expressed is kept silent, but not if a false final cause, and that the only one, is proposed, saving the prescript of can. 1054 (Can. 45).

Rescripts, even those conceded Motu proprio, to a person incapable by common law of obtaining the grace in question, and likewise those issued against the legitimate custom or special statute of some place, or against a right already acquired by another, are not sustained unless an express derogatory clause is added to the rescript (Can. 46).

Rescripts are not rendered void because of an error in the name of the person to whom or by whom they are conceded, or of the place in which he resides, or of the thing concerning which the matter is treated, provided that, in the judgment of the Ordinary, there is no doubt concerning the person or thing itself (Can. 47).

A rescript of the Apostolic See in which no executor is given must be presented to the Ordinary of the one obtaining it only when this is prescribed in the same letters, or when it concerns public matters, or when it is necessary to verify certain conditions (Can. 51).

Rescripts for the presentation of which no definite time has been set can be exhibited to the executor at any time, provided fraud and deceit are absent (Can. 52).

The executor of a rescript invalidly performs his duty before he has received the letters and has recognized their authenticity and integrity, unless previous notice of the same has been transmitted to him by the authority of the one rescripting (Can. 53).

§ 1. If in a rescript the mere ministry of execution is committed, the execution of the rescript cannot be denied, unless either it is manifestly clear that the rescript is null by defect of subreption or obreption, or in the rescript there are added conditions which the executor knows have not been fulfilled, or the one who obtained the rescript seems so unworthy, in the judgment of the executor, that the concession of the grace would be for the offense of others; but if this last thing happens, the executor, with execution suspended, is immediately to inform the one rescripting concerning the matter.

§ 2. But if in a rescript the concession of the grace is committed to the executor, it belongs to him, according to his prudent judgment and conscience, to concede or deny the grace (Can. 54).