Summoning cardinals, legates or one's Ordinary before a lay judge (Can. 2341)

Impediunt.—As also do those who hinder with effect in any way the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction by having recourse to any sort of lay authority. Canon 2341 VII. Si quis contra praescriptum [privilegii fori] ausus fuerit ad judicem laicum trahere aliquem ex S. *(If anyone, against the prescription of the privilege of the forum, shall have dared to drag before a lay judge any one of the Most Holy)*R.E. Cardinalibus, vel Legatis Sedis Apostolicae, vel officialibus majoribus Romanae Curiae, ob negotia ad eorum munus pertinentia, (Cardinals, or Legates of the Apostolic See, or the major officials of the Roman Curia, on account of business pertaining to their office,) vel Ordinarium proprium, contrahit ipso facto excommunicationem Sedi Apostolicae speciali modo reservatam. (or his own Ordinary, contracts ipso facto an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner.)

Trahere—Those who without leave of the Holy See summon as defendants, not as witnesses, Cardinals, Nuncios, Delegates Apostolic, or their own Ordinary before a lay judge in a civil or criminal action incur this censure.

Ausus.—Full knowledge and deliberation are required to incur the censure. Canon 2343 VIII. Qui violentas manus injecerit in personam S. *(Whoever lays violent hands on the person of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church,)*R.E. Cardinalis vel Legati Romani Pontificis . . . Patriarchae, Archiepiscopi, Episcopi etiam titularis tantum, incurrit in excommunicationem latae sententiae Sedi Apostolicae speciali modo reservatam. (of a Patriarch, Archbishop, or Bishop even merely titular, incurs an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner.)

1174. V. "Those who publish laws, mandates, or decrees against the freedom or rights of the Church; those who directly or indirectly impede the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, whether of the internal or external forum, having recourse for this to any lay power whatever."¹⁴

¹⁴ Code, c. 2334. - In the old text it read "and having recourse for this"; but in the Code "and" is omitted, and therefore only those are excommunicated who in fact impede the exercise of jurisdiction.

This penalty is incurred: 1. by those publishing laws...

a) Those publishing, namely those who participate in some legislative power, or must concur so that some law may obtain the force of law.

b) Those publishing laws properly so called, or mandates or decrees brought for the completion of law or for its practical execution, but not judicial sentences; yet stable ordinances brought by provincial or municipal magistrates, which are equivalent to laws for a province or city, are included.

c) Against the freedom or rights of the Church. By these words is designated not only the exercise of ecclesiastical power, but any right belonging to the Church, such as the right of teaching, the right of conferring benefices, the right of carrying out public supplications, the right of acquiring and possessing, etc.¹⁵

¹⁵ It must be noted that this excommunication, brought against those who published laws or decrees opposed to the freedom or rights of the Church, already flourished from the constitution Apostolicae Sedis. Hence the Deputies and Senators who gave their vote for the French laws against religious associations (July 1, 1901) and concerning the Separation of Church and State (December 9, 1905), even if they gave their vote after the necessary number of voters had been completed, were and remain liable to an excommunication of this kind until absolution; likewise the President of the Republic who promulgated them; the Ministers who published decrees for their execution.

1175. 2. Those impeding the exercise of properly ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by which the faithful are governed unto eternal life:

Namely, those who unjustly, by some coercion, physical or moral, effectively place an obstacle lest someone exercise an act of jurisdiction which he has ready at hand; this indeed is done by those having recourse for this to any lay power, whether supreme, intermediate, or lowest, such as the power of a municipal magistrate; for example, those who oppose the ordinances and decrees of bishops concerning neutral and impious schools, by recurring to any lay authority.

Explanation. - Here Canon 120 must be held before the eyes, concerning clerics to be convened in contentious and criminal causes only before an ecclesiastical judge, except cases in which due permission is had for convening them before a lay judge. Since permission of various Superiors is owed according to the dignity of clerics, likewise varied is the penalty inflicted against the delict committed against this canon: he who without permission of the Holy See has dared to drag before a lay judge a Cardinal, a Legate of the Apostolic See, or Major Officials of the Roman Curia on account of affairs pertaining to their function, or his own Ordinary, incurs an excommunication reserved in a special mode to the Apostolic See; he who drags another Bishop, even titular, an Abbot or Prelate nullius, or one from the major Superiors of religions of pontifical right, incurs an excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See; he who without permission of the Ordinary of the place drags another person having the privilege of forum, if a cleric, incurs suspension from office reserved to the Ordinary; if a layman, let him be punished by his own Ordinary. Pius IX, Apostolicae Sedis, § 1, VII.

There are struck by the fact itself with an excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See:

1°. Those violating the enclosure of nuns, of whatever kind or condition or sex they may be, by entering their monasteries without legitimate permission, and likewise those introducing or admitting them; but if they are clerics, besides let them be suspended for a time to be defined by the Ordinary according to the gravity of the fault;

2°. Women violating the enclosure of male regulars, and Superiors and others, whoever they may be, introducing or admitting them, of whatever age they may be; and besides, religious introducing or admitting them are to be deprived of office, if they have any, and of active and passive voice;

3°. Nuns illegitimately going out from enclosure against the prescription of can. 601 (Can. 2342).