Article II: On Ecclesiastical Law

Usefulness. - Since ecclesiastical laws are accustomed to oblige conscience directly, and not rarely, because of moral matters, the Roman Curia must be approached, canonical notions concerning these laws and concerning the Roman Curia are necessary for the moral theologian, according to that saying: a moralist without law can do nothing.

Order of speaking. - In this article we complete the things which above we wrote both concerning laws in general and concerning human laws. For many things must be indicated which are more proper to ecclesiastical law. But this will be the order of speaking: that first we place those things which affect the law itself in itself; then those things which regard the subject of the law; then those things which concern the author of the law (which will be the occasion for briefly explaining the ecclesiastical hierarchy); afterward those things which pertain to the interpretation of law; finally those things which regard dispensation from law. To this last argument a brief dissertation on rescripts and on the Roman Curia will be connected.