Corpus Juris Canonici

The Corpus Juris Canonici is a collection of important rules and laws used by the Canon law of the Catholic Church. It was especially for the Latin Church and helped decide matters in special church courts. These courts could be found in places like each diocese or even in bigger courts in Rome called the Roman Rota.

Over time, these rules were updated. In 1917, a new set of laws called the 1917 Code of Canon Law was created and started being used in 1918. Even that code was later replaced in 1983 by the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which is the one used today by the Latin Church. The Corpus Juris Canonici helped shape how the Catholic Church made decisions for many years.

Definitions

The term Corpus Juris Canonici means "Body of Canon Law." It was used from the 1200s to describe the system of canonical law in the Catholic Church.

It refers to a collection of important church laws. Over time, it included several key groups of laws, such as the Decretum by Gratian and the Decretals of popes like Gregory IX, Boniface VIII, and Clement V. By the 1500s, these collections were officially grouped together under this name. The Church does not have a fixed, unchanging set of laws that cannot be updated.

Jus novum and Corpus juris canonici

Decretum Gratiani

Main article: Decretum Gratiani

Around 1150, a teacher named Gratian wrote a book to help people study the rules of the Catholic Church. He taught at the University of Bologna. The book was called Concordia discordantium canonum, but most people called it Decretum Gratiani. The Church never made this book the official set of rules.

Extravagantes

Main article: Extravagantes

Laws made after Gratian’s book were called “Extravagantes.” These were grouped together, and five early groups were very important. Two of these groups were official collections of the Roman Church. Other groups were named after where they were found, like “Bambergensis” and “Lipsiensis.” Later, new official collections were made.

Decretales Gregorii IX

Main article: Decretals of Gregory IX

In 1230, Gregory IX asked Raymond of Penyafort to make a new collection of laws, called the “Decretals of Gregory IX.” The Pope made these laws official in 1234. This collection is also called the “Liber extra.”

Liber Sextus

Boniface VIII made another set of rules in 1298, called the “Sixth Book of the Decretals” (Liber Sextus).

Liber Septimus

John XXII added the last official set of Canon law rules, called the “Liber Septimus Decretalium.”

Extravagantes Joannis XXII and Extravagantes communes

Later, experts added important rules from popes after John XXII to the collections of laws. These were called “Extravagantes,” including rules from John XXII and others up to 1484. In a Paris edition from 1499–1505, Jean Chappuis organized these rules into two groups.

Legal status and structure of codifications

The "Corpus Juris Canonici" was a complete set of laws for the Catholic Church. Some collections, like the "Decree" of Gratian, were not official laws, but the documents inside them were important. Some unofficial rules from Gratian’s "Decree" became real laws.

Other collections, such as those by Gregory IX and Boniface VIII, were official. Their decisions stayed laws unless later rules replaced them. These collections are treated as single, united sets of laws. Later decisions replace earlier ones if there are disagreements.

The "Decretals" of Gregory IX, Boniface VIII, and the "Clementinæ" are each split into five books (liber), then into titles (titulus), and further into chapters (caput). They cover topics like church leaders, court procedures, clergy, marriage, and wrongdoings. The summaries of each title are considered law if they fully explain the rule, but the chapter summaries are not law.

Manner of statutory citation

People use a special way to talk about old church rule books. They say which chapter, book, and title they mean.

For example, rules made by Gregory IX are called “X,” meaning “extra to Gratian’s work.” Rules from Boniface VIII are called “in VIº,” meaning “in the Sixth.” The rules called the “Clementines” are called “in Clem.”

If a title has only one chapter, it is called “c. unic.” If it is the last chapter, it is called “c. ult.” Sometimes, the first words of the chapter are used, like “c. Odoardus.” These ways of pointing to chapters are in the index tables in printed versions of these books. The “Extravagantes Communes” are quoted the same way, using “Extrav. Commun.” The “Extravagantes of John XXII” are divided into titles and chapters and are called “Extrav. Joan. XXII.”

Post-Tridentine Revision

After the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563, St. Pius V asked some experts in 1566 to make a new version of the "Corpus Juris Canonici". They worked on fixing mistakes in a part called the "Decree" by Gratian. Later, Gregory XIII said that this new version should not change the original text.

This updated version was published in Rome in 1582 and became the standard for all later versions. Other famous versions were made in different cities over time, but some had changes that made them less useful. A version from 1833 to 1839 by Richter was helpful because it included important notes. Another version from 1879 to 1881 by Friedberg was also very good, even though it changed some parts of the original text.