Chapter V: On the Penalties Established Against Transgressors of the General Decrees

Argument of the chapter

Besides the obligation of conscience, which regards the penitential forum and was weighed by us above in n. 53, 61, the General Decrees are fortified by canonical penalties which are promulgated in the three articles of this chapter.

Moreover, two are latae sententiae, transferred here from the former law; but the third article establishes arbitrary penalties committed to the Bishop.

The clauses of conclusion follow those three articles; these no longer belong to Chapter V.