Morals of the Church
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Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Scholion II. On Ecclesiastical Law

94.

I. Ecclesiastical law strictly so called is the complex of canons or laws which have been made by ecclesiastical authority.

II. Ecclesiastical laws are distinguished:

  1. By reason of the legislator, into papal, episcopal, and synodal laws.

  2. By reason of matter, into dogmatic and disciplinary canons. The former propose truths pertaining to faith and morals; the latter regard the external government of the Church.

  3. By reason of the mode in which they were made, into written and unwritten law. Unwritten law is divided into handed-down and customary law, according as it has been established orally or by the consent of the legislator in custom.

  4. By reason of territory, into universal and particular laws, according as they bind the universal Church or only certain regions.

  5. By reason of time, into: 1. ancient law, from the beginning of the Church until Gratian around 1150; 2. the law of the Middle Ages, from Gratian until the Council of Trent, 1545; 3. new law, from the Council of Trent until the Vatican Council, or rather until the new Code; 4. newest law, from the new Code.

III. Ecclesiastical laws, as they formerly were in force, are found for the greater part in the Corpus Iuris Canonici, as it is called; as they now are in force, in the Codex Iuris Canonici.

  1. The Corpus Iuris Canonici consists of five parts, which are: 1. the Decretum Gratiani; 2. the Decretals of Gregory IX; 3. the Liber Sextus of Boniface VIII; 4. the Clementines; 5. the Extravagantes of John XXII and the Extravagantes Communes.1

  2. The Codex Iuris Canonici, arranged by order of Pius X, promulgated by the authority of Benedict XV in the year 1917, on May 27, and in force from May 19, 1918, consists of five books, of which the first treats general norms, the second persons, the third things, the fourth processes, and the fifth delicts and penalties.

1 They are generally cited thus:

  1. Decretum Gratiani. First part of the decree: c. 9 "Palam est" 11 = c. 9, D. 11 = c. 9, D. XI = canon 9 of distinction XI. Second part: c. 24, C. II, q. 7 = canon 24 of cause II, question 7. The treatise De poenitentia is cited in this way: c. 26, D. I de poenit. = canon 26 of the first distinction concerning penance. Third part: c. 15, D. III de consecr. = canon 15 of distinction III concerning consecration. Summaries written by Gratian are cited by the expression "dictum Gratiani" = dict. Gratiani. The cited dictum is determined by distinction or by cause and question.

  2. The Decretals of Gregory IX are cited by the characteristic letter X = extra, for example c. 5 X de praebendis (III, 5) = c. 5 X 3.5 = the fifth chapter of the Decretals of Gregory IX concerning prebends and dignities, book III, title 5.

  3. The Liber Sextus of Boniface VIII: c. "ut animarum" 2 de constit. in VIto (I, 2) = c. 2 de constit. in VIto (I, 2) = c. 2 in VIto (I, 2).

  4. The Clementines: for example Clem. 1 de celebratione miss. (III, 14), or c. 1 III, 14 in Clem. = Clementina 1 de celebr. miss. = c. 1 III, 14 in Clementinis.

  5. The Extravagantes of John XXII: c. un. de praebendis extrav. Ioann. XXII (tit. 3) = c. un. extr. Ioan. (3). The Extravagantes Communes: c. 1 de electione, extrav. com. (I, 3) = c. 1 Xvag. co. I, 3.

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