Canon Law - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition canon-law

Definition :

Canon law. When Christian communities formed themselves into congregations ('kklhoiai), certain resolutions were agreed upon for their government; these were termed rules kavoves, forma, disciplina); and the phrases canonica sanctio, lex canonica, and canonum jura, were not introduced until the ninth century, nor the phrase jus canonicum until the canon law began in the twelfth century to be treated as a science. The canon law, properly so called, denotes the ecclesiastical law, sanctioned by the Church of Rome. It borrows from the Roman Law many of its principles and rules of proceeding, though not servilely, nor without such variations as the independence of its tribunals and the different nature of its authorities might be expected to produce, See Hall. Lit. Hist.

The canons made in England in 1603, and revised in 1866, are binding on the clergy only, see per Lord Hardwicke in Middleton v. Croft, (1737) 2 Str 1056, some of them being very archaic, as canon 72, by which it is unlawful for any minister to attempt to cast out devils, except with the licence of the bishop of the diocese. They are made by Convocation, but by the act of Submission (25 Hen. 8, c. 19), the Royal Licence is required for the making of any new canon. In 1888 canon 62 was amended into harmony with the Marriage Act, 1886, by which the legal hours for marriage were extended to 3 P.M. from 8 A.M., having previously been between 8 A.M. and noon. Canons 75 and 109, prohibiting misconduct on the part of the clergy, are given special force to by s. 12 of the (English) Clergy Discipline Act, 1892, and a new canon was made after that Act enabling the bishop of the diocese to declare vacant the benefice of any priest declared disqualified by reason of any crime or immorality proved against him under that act. In 1922 a new canon was made dealing with the constitution of the Lower Houses of Convocation. Canon 59 directs catechizing (see CATECHISE). Consult Maitland's Roman Canon Law in the Church of England; Mylne's Canon Law.

A body of law developed within a particular religious traditions, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.