16th International Congress of Medieval Canon Law (July 20, 2022)

Canon Law: A Comparative Study with Anglo-American Legal Theory, by the Reverend John J. Coughlin, explores the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church from a comparative perspective. The Introduction to the book presents historical examples of antinomian and legalistic approaches to canonlaw (antinomianism diminishes or denies the importance of canon law, while legalism overestimates the function of canon law in the life of the Catholic Church). The Introduction discusses these approaches as threats to the rule of law in the Church, and describes the concept of the rule of law in the thought of various Anglo-American legal theorists. Chapter One offers an overview of canon law as the "home system" in this comparative study. The remaining chapters consider antinomian and legalistic approaches to the rule of law in light of three specific issues: the sexual abuse crisis,ownership of church property, and the denial of Holy Communion to Catholic public officials. Chapters Two and Three discuss the failure of the rule of law as a result of antinomian and legalistic approaches to the sexual abuse crisis. Chapters Four and Five compare the concept of property in canon law with that of liberal political theory; they discuss the ownership of parish property in light of diocesan bankruptcies, the relationship between church property and the law of the secular state, and the secularization of Catholic institutions and their property. Chapters Six and Seven raise the indeterminacy claim with regards to canon law and the arguments for and against the denial of Holy Communion to Catholic public officials. Although the three issues arise in the context of the United States, they raise broader theoretical issues about antinomianism, legalism, and the rule of law. Throughout the comparative study, American legal theory functions to clarify these broader issues in canon law. The concluding chapter offers a synthesis of this comparative study. Source: Syndetic

"The interplay between Christianity and International Law... The terms 'Christianity' and 'International Law', as well as their relationship to each other, are not easy to understand - at least where there might be consensus. The aim here is to diagnose the elusiveness of these phenomena, why this is important to understand, and to set the stage for further investigations. So why is it that we cannot come to a consensus about this phenomena, 'Christianity and International Law'? If you are inclined, pause a moment with this text and build a list of possible reasons... Some contrarians might answer that we actually do have a relative consensus, that most reasonable people, at least with the opportunity to learn, find common agreement over most things and whatever differences simply reflect the diversity, the spice, the irreducible uniqueness of individual personalities and cultures. Those who might criticize or denounce this consensus are simply acting in so-called bad faith, whether that is deliberate or misguided or some unintentional tick in their nature. In this scenario, 'we' have (faith in, understanding of) Christianity, 'they' would take it away or diminish it; 'we' respect (follow, obey, promote) international law, 'they' would ignore it or undermine its integrity"-- Provided by publisher.

Natural law has long been considered the traditional source of Roman Catholic canon law. However, new scholarship is critical of this approach as it portrays the Catholic Church as static, ahistorical, and insensitive to cultural change. In its attempt to stem the massive loss of effectiveness being experienced by canon law, the church has to reconsider its theory of legal foundation, especially its natural law theory. Church Law in Modernity analyses the criticism levelled at the church and puts forward solutions for reconciling church law with modernity by revealing the historical and cultural authenticity of all law, and revising the processes of law making. In a modern church, there is no way of thinking of the law without the participation of the faithful in legislation. Judith Hahn therefore proposes a reformed legislative process for the church in the hope of reconciling the natural law origins of church law with a new, modern theology.
Source:Syndetic

This volume explores ways of understanding equality and non-discrimination. Drawing on the timeless logic of realist philosophy, Catholic morality, and Catholic social teaching, the authors seek to provide intellectual clarity on many controversial questions. The contributors are lawyers, philosophers, and theologians who offer rich insights into the modern crisis of social thought on equality. They examine various global assaults on human life, marriage, the family, and the natural dignity of masculinity and femininity. They seek to uphold the essential foundations of reality for the attainment of the common good. The contributors attempt to move beyond a positivist mentality in order to evaluate the first principles of the natural law in which all human law is grounded. The various chapters evaluate developments and application of theories of equality and non-discrimination in the history of Western thought; in modern European practice; in contemporary inter-American practice; in the Asian setting; in the Middle East and North Africa; and in the Catholic canon law tradition. The authors strive to restore a universally valid conception of equality and non-discrimination as understood within the Catholic tradition. Source: Wipf and Stock Publishers website

The Hibernensis is the longest and most comprehensive canon-law text to have circulated in Carolingian Europe. Compiled in Ireland in the late seventh or early eight century, it exerted a strong and long-lasting influence on the development of European canon law. The present edition offers-for the first time-a complete text of the Hibernensis combining the two main branches of its manuscript transmission. This is accompanied by an English translation and a commentary that is both historical and philological. The Hibernensis is an invaluable source for those interested in church history, the history of canon law, social-economic history, as well as intellectual history, and the history of the book. Widely recognized as the single most important source for the history of the church in early medieval Ireland, the Hibernensis is also our best index for knowing what books were available in Ireland at the time of its compilation: it consists of excerpted material from the Bible, Church Fathers and doctors, hagiography, church histories, chronicles, wisdom texts, and insular normative material unattested elsewhere. This in addition to the staple sources of canonical collections, comprising the acta of church councils and papal letters. Altogether there are forty-two cited authors and 135 cited texts. But unlike previous canonical collections, the contents of the Hibernensis are not simply derivative: they have been modified and systematically organised, offering an important insight into the manner in which contemporary clerical scholars attempted to define, interpret, and codify law for the use of a growing Christian society. Source; Syndetic

By the end of the thirteenth century, court procedure in continental Europe in secular and ecclesiastical courts shared many characteristics. As the academic jurists of the Ius commune began to excavate the norms of procedure from Justinian's great codification of law and then to expound them in the classroom and in their writings, they shaped the structure of ecclesiastical courts and secular courts as well. These essays also illuminate striking differences in the sources that we find in different parts of Europe. In northern Europe the archives are rich but do not always provide the details we need to understand a particular case. In Italy and Southern France the documentation is more detailed than in other parts of Europe but here too the historical records do not answer every question we might pose to them. In Spain, detailed documentation is strangely lacking, if not altogether absent. Iberian conciliar canons and tracts on procedure tell us much about practice in Spanish courts. As these essays demonstrate, scholars who want to peer into the medieval courtroom, must also read letters, papal decretals, chronicles, conciliar canons, and consilia to provide a nuanced and complete picture of what happened in medieval trials. This volume will give sophisticated guidance to all readers with an interest in European law and courts.Source:Syndetic

The third edition of An Introduction to Canon Law retains the comprehensiveness of the previous two editions while updating the reader on the field, especially new resources and current decisions and changes. It now includes "A Canonical Constitution on the Church," written and compiled at the behest of Pope Paul VI. While never promulgated, it served as a working document for the 1983 revision of the Code. Source Paulist Press website.

Die vorliegende Studie widmet sich dem Salzburger Diözesanpriester Dr. Joseph Anton Schöpf, der in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts die Salzburger Lehrkanzeln für Kirchengeschichte und Kirchenrecht maßgeblich prägte. Der Autor legt eine ausführliche Biografie sowie eine Darstellung seines wissenschaftlichen und allgemein-schriftstellerischen Wirkens vor. Schöpf präsentiert sich als vielschichtige Person: Er war rund 36 Jahre als akademischer Lehrer für Kirchengeschichte und Kirchenrecht tätig, wirkte aber darüber hinaus in zahlreichen unterschiedlichen Feldern im akademischen, sozialen, journalistischen, pastoralen sowie politischen Bereich. Source: Syndetic

Canon law is an unavoidable theme for medieval historians. It intersects with every aspect of medieval life and society, and at one point or another, every medievalist works on the law. In this book, Kriston Rennie looks at the early medieval origins and development of canon law though a social history framework, with a view to making sense of a rich and complex legal system and culture, and an equally rich scholarly tradition. It was in the early Middle Ages that the ancient traditions, norms, customs, and rationale of the Church were shaped into legislative procedure. The structures and rationale behind the law's formulation - its fundamental purpose, reason for existence and proliferation, and methods of creation and collection - explain how the medieval Church and society was influenced and controlled. They also, as this short book argues, explain how it ultimately functioned.

European law, including both civil law and common law, has gone through several major phases of expansion in the world. European legal history thus also is a history of legal transplants and cultural borrowings, which national legal histories as products of nineteenth-century historicism haveuntil recently largely left unconsidered. The Handbook of European Legal History supplies its readers with an overview of the different phases of European legal history in the light of today's state-of-the-art research, by offering cutting-edge views on research questions currently emerging ininternational discussions.The Handbook takes a broad approach to its subject matter both nationally and systemically. Unlike traditional European legal histories, which tend to concentrate on "heartlands" of Europe (notably Italy and Germany), the Europe of the Handbook is more versatile and nuanced, taking intoconsideration the legal developments in Europe's geographical "fringes" such as Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. The Handbook covers all major time periods, from the ancient Greek law to the twenty-first century. Contributors include acknowledged leaders in the field as well as rising talents,representing a wide range of legal systems, methodologies, areas of expertise and research agendas. Source:Syndetics

Die vorgelegte Auswahl aus den umfangreichen Forschungen von Georg May zur Rechtsgeschichte umfasst sechzehn Publikationen der Jahre 1958 bis 2008. Sie bietet vor allem Titel aus Zeitschriften und Festschriften, die zum Teil nur schwer zugänglich sind. Zeitlich spannt sich der Bogen der Beiträge vom Jahre 448 bis ins 19. Jahrhundert; inhaltlich liegt der Schwerpunkt bei der Behandlung von Fragen der Kirchenverfassung und des Prozessrechtes. Beispiele aus dem Gebiet der ehemaligen Erzdiözese Mainz boten Ansatzpunkte, sich intensiver allgemein wichtigen Themen zu widmen.Alle Aufsätze zeichnen sich durch umfangreiche Heranziehung und Auswertung von gedruckten sowie ungedruckten Quellen aus. Durch akribische Befragung der Quellen und deren meisterhafte Interpretation durch Georg May konnten Ursprung und Anfang eines Amtes erhellt und damit neue Erkenntnisse erzielt werden.Source:Syndetic

As the first legal history of Switzerland in English, this seminal work presents the legal development in the territory of today's Switzerland. Until 1798, the Swiss Confederation consisted of a conglomerate of around 50 local authorities with different constitutional statuses. The number of legislative jurisdictions was even greater; each territory, however small, had its own legal system before 1798. In the 19th century, legal unity was initially created within the framework of cantonal law and, since 1848, at the national level. Key developments of the 20th century were equality between men and women, social legislation and the influence of technological development. The focus of the book is on constitutional history, legal sources and legislation, court proceedings and jurisprudence. It also presents the political, economic and social backgrounds of legal developments. Source: Syndetic

The Visible Religion; is an antithesis to Thomas Luckmann's concept. The Russian Orthodox Church in post-Soviet canon law suggests a comprehensive cultural program of modernity. Researched through the paradigms of multiple modernities and post-secularity, the ROC appears to be quite modern: she reflects on herself and the secular environment, employs secular language, appeals to public reason, the human rights discourse, and achievements of modern science. The fact that the ROC rejects some liberal Western developments should not be understood in the way that the ROC rejects modernity in general. As a legitimate player in the public sphere, the ROC puts forward her own - Russian Orthodox - model of modernity, which combines transcendence and immanence, theological and social reasoning, an afterlife strategy and cooperation with secular actors, whereby eschatology and the human rights discourse become two sides of the same coin. Source: Syndetic