Scholion. On the Subjects of Civil Law

I. A citizen present in the territory of his own kingdom, and this also holds for a naturalized citizen, as it is called, is held by the just laws of his own kingdom which regard him; likewise by the laws of a foreign kingdom which regard goods possessed there.

II. A citizen staying in foreign territory: 1. is held only by those laws of his own kingdom which regard his duties, burdens, and goods in his own territory; 2. is bound by those laws of the foreign kingdom which regard public order, the punishment of delicts, and goods possessed there. Princes, however, and their legates staying in foreign territory are immune from the laws of that territory by international law; nevertheless, equally with private persons, they are subject to the very decrees of the law of nations or international law, unless they are expressly exempted.¹

¹ Sweens, Theol. mor. fund., 3rd ed., n. 409; Aertnys-Damen, Theol. mor., 11th ed., I, n. 153.

III. Clerics are not subject to laws which are opposed to their privileges. Furthermore: 1. all clerics are immune from military service, and from public civil duties and offices foreign to the clerical state (can. 121); 2. for clerics who are compelled to satisfy creditors, those things which, according to the judgment of a prudent ecclesiastical judge, are necessary for their support are to be preserved, while nevertheless their obligation of satisfying creditors as soon as possible remains firm (can. 122); 3. how far they can be summoned before a lay judge is established by can. 120, and will be explained in the treatise on the duties of judges. But as regards immunity from tax laws, which clerics once enjoyed, the Church seems to have tacitly renounced this as regards common taxes, that is, as regards burdens either personal or imposed on the private goods of clerics, even those which come to them from a benefice or office. Indeed, the same today, at least in most states, holds for burdens imposed on ecclesiastical goods, that is, on goods which pertain not to the private dominion of clerics but to the dominion of the Church.

What has been said about clerics holds also concerning religious, even lay religious and novices (can. 614), and likewise concerning societies, whether of men or women, living in common without vows according to the norm of can. 673 (can. 680).

IV. The Pontiff is plainly immune from civil jurisdiction. For to the head of a supreme perfect society there belongs the immunity which is necessary for the exercise of his office. But such is immunity from civil jurisdiction. For, if civil jurisdiction over him were admitted, he could also unwillingly be judged and punished by civil authority, and this for the same reason as other subjects. But the right of punishing the Supreme Pontiff for the same reason as other subjects, for example by imprisoning him, driving him into exile, etc., cannot be reconciled with the exercise of his office. There is added the fact that the Supreme Pontiff declares himself immune from civil jurisdiction, and exempts others from subjection to civil authority;¹ one who is antecedently subject cannot do this. The Pope cannot truly renounce this immunity, although its exercise can be moderated according to circumstances.

¹ Cf. Wernz, Ius Decret., t. III, n. 146; Dirckx in N. Kath. Stemmen, 1903, p. 100 sq.; Laurentius, Instit. Iur. eccl., n. 1099.