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65-685: In ancient Rome a benefice was a gift of land ( precaria ) for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, to the state. The word comes from the Latin noun beneficium , meaning "benefit". In the 8th century, using their position as Mayor of the Palace, Charles Martel , Carloman I and Pepin II usurped a large number of church benefices for distribution to vassals, and later Carolingians continued this practice as emperors. These estates were held in return for oaths of military assistance, which greatly aided

130-547: A benefice from the papacy. In his March 1075 Dictatus Papae , Pope Gregory VII declared that only the pope could depose an emperor, which implied that he could do so just as a lord might take a benefice away from a vassal. This declaration inflamed Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and furthered the friction caused in the Investiture Conflict . The expanded practice continued through the Middle Ages within

195-708: A 'straight measuring rod, ruler ') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. Canon law includes the internal ecclesiastical law, or operational policy, governing the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches ), the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, and

260-416: A benefice did not necessarily imply a cure of souls although each benefice had a number of spiritual duties attached to it. For providing these duties, a priest would receive " temporalities " . Benefices were used for the worldly support of much of its pastoral clergy – clergy gaining rewards for carrying out their duties with rights to certain revenues, the "fruits of their office". The original donor of

325-431: A fixed rent annually to the church or monastery for the land. This was usually expressed as a proportion of the revenue generated by the property, typically a "ninth and tenth" ( nona et decima ), that is, a tenth of the original produce and then a ninth of what remained—the equivalent of a fifth of the original total. The vassal or knight using the land did not hold it outright, but during the lord's pleasure he enjoyed all

390-407: A presentee to a benefice) in the ecclesiastical courts or to a quare impedit in the common law courts , and the bishop must then certify the reasons of his refusal. In the rare cases where the patron happens to be a clergyman ( a clerk in orders ) and wishes to be admitted to the benefice of his own advowson , he must proceed by way of petition instead of by deed of presentation , reciting that

455-636: A rule, code, standard, or measure; the root meaning in all these languages is 'reed'; see also the Romance-language ancestors of the English word cane . In the fourth century, the First Council of Nicaea (325) calls canons the disciplinary measures of the church: the term canon, κανὠν, means in Greek, a rule. There is a very early distinction between the rules enacted by the church and

520-439: A series of published statutes called capitularies . The Capitulary of Herstal (AD 779) distinguished between his vassals who were styled casati (sing. casatus ) and non-casati , that is those subjects who had received a benefice from the hand of the king and those who had not, and towards the end of Charlemagne's reign it appears that a royal vassal who had satisfactorily fulfilled his duties could always look forward to

585-414: A temporal lord or patron but relief for that oppression could be found under canon law ). Some individual institutions within the church accumulated enormous endowments and, with that, temporal power. These endowments sometimes concentrated great wealth in the mortmain ("dead hand") of the church, so called because it endured beyond any individual's life. The church was exempt from some or all taxes. This

650-554: Is also used.) The precarium arose in the late Roman Empire . In the Middle Ages it became a legal fiction, and the two parties usually signed a contract specifying the rent or services owed by the petitioner. Some precaria eventually became hereditary fiefs . In the Merovingian period the feminine form (singular precaria ) became common, but in the eighth century the term beneficium began to replace precarium , although

715-575: Is avoided or vacated Dispensation, enabling a clerk to hold several ecclesiastical dignities or benefices at the same time, was transferred to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 , certain ecclesiastical persons having been declared by a previous statute (of 1529) to be entitled to such dispensations. The system of pluralities carried with it, as a direct consequence, systematic non-residence on

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780-538: Is contained in the genesis of various institutes of civil law, such as the law in continental Europe and Latin American countries. Indirectly, canon law has significant influence in contemporary society. Catholic Canonical jurisprudential theory generally follows the principles of Aristotelian - Thomistic legal philosophy . While the term "law" is never explicitly defined in the Catholic Code of Canon Law,

845-576: Is termed pluralism (unrelated to the political theory of the same name ). An English example was Stigand , Archbishop of Canterbury (1052–72). After the Reformation , the new denominations generally adopted systems of ecclesiastical polity that did not entail benefices and the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) called "for the abandonment or reform of the system of benefices". The French Revolution replaced France's system by

910-582: The Catechism of the Catholic Church cites Aquinas in defining law as "an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community" and reformulates it as "a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good". The law of the Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Roman papacy was in much the same state as that of

975-525: The Ante-Nicene Fathers . Jus novum ( c.  1140 -1563) Jus novissimum ( c.  1563 -1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of

1040-509: The Church of England , the ecclesiastical courts that formerly decided many matters such as disputes relating to marriage, divorce, wills, and defamation, still have jurisdiction of certain church-related matters (e.g. discipline of clergy, alteration of church property, and issues related to churchyards). Their separate status dates back to the 12th century when the Normans split them off from

1105-596: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy following debates and a report headed by Louis-Simon Martineau in 1790, confiscating all endowments of the church, which was until then the highest order ( premier ordre ) of the Ancien Régime ; instead, the state awarded a salary to the formerly endowment-dependent clergy, and abolished canons, prebendaries and chaplains. This constitution kept the separation between

1170-554: The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches promulgated in 1990 by Pope John Paul II . Roman Catholic canon law is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code, principles of legal interpretation, and coercive penalties, though it lacks civilly-binding force in most secular jurisdictions. One example where conflict between secular and canon law occurred

1235-484: The adversarial form of proceeding found in the common law system of English and U.S. law, which features such things as juries and single judges. The institutions and practices of Catholic canon law paralleled the legal development of much of Europe, and consequently, both modern civil law and common law bear the influences of canon law. As Edson Luiz Sampel, a Brazilian expert in Catholic canon law, says, canon law

1300-406: The canon law , denotes an ecclesiastical office (but not always a cure of souls ) in which the incumbent is required to perform certain duties or conditions of a spiritual kind (spiritualities) while being supported by the revenues attached to the office (temporalities). The spiritualities of parochial benefices, whether rectories , vicarages or perpetual curacies , include due observation of

1365-532: The Anglican Communion; (2) Their existence can be factually established; (3) Each province or church contributes through its own legal system to the principles of canon law common within the Communion; (4) these principles have strong persuasive authority and are fundamental to the self-understanding of each of the member churches; (5) These principles have a living force, and contain within themselves

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1430-485: The Archbishop of Canterbury, two benefices can be held together, the churches of which are within 4 miles (6.4 km) of each other, and the annual value of one of which does not exceed £200. A benefice or living in the Church of England describes any ecclesiastical parish or group of ecclesiastical parishes under a single stipendiary minister, as well as its related historical meaning. The term dates from

1495-507: The Carolingians in consolidating and strengthening their power. Charlemagne (emperor 800–814) continued the late Roman concept of granting benefices in return for military and administrative service to his empire. Thus, the imperial structure was bound together through a series of oaths between the monarch and the recipient of land (and the resulting income) (see Fief ). He ordered and administered his kingdom and later his empire through

1560-460: The European feudal system . This same customary method became adopted by the Catholic Church. The church's revenue streams came from, amongst other things, rents and profits arising from assets gifted to the church, its endowment , given by believers, be they monarch, lord of the manor or vassal, and later also upon tithes calculated on the sale of the product of the people's personal labour in

1625-620: The Hagiorite , has compiled canons and commentaries upon them in a work known as the Pēdálion ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Πηδάλιον , 'Rudder'), so named because it is meant to "steer" the church in her discipline. The dogmatic determinations of the Councils are to be applied rigorously since they are considered to be essential for the church's unity and the faithful preservation of the Gospel. In

1690-674: The Latin Church before 1917; much more diversity in legislation existed in the various Eastern Catholic Churches. Each had its own special law, in which custom still played an important part. One major difference in Eastern Europe however, specifically in the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, was in regards to divorce. Divorce started to slowly be allowed in specific instances such as adultery being committed, abuse, abandonment, impotence, and barrenness being

1755-551: The activities of Catholics toward the mission of the church. It was the first modern Western legal system and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West. In the Latin Church , positive ecclesiastical laws, based directly or indirectly upon immutable divine law or natural law , derive formal authority in the case of universal laws from the supreme legislator (i.e., the Supreme Pontiff ), who possesses

1820-551: The benefice is in his own patronage, and petitioning the bishop to examine him and admit him. Upon the bishop having satisfied himself of the sufficiency of the clerk, he proceeded to institute him to the spiritual office to which the benefice is annexed, but before such institution could take place, the clerk had to make the declaration of assent, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer , take

1885-463: The clerk into his benefice – in other words, to put him into legal possession of the temporalities, which is done by some outward form, and for the most part by delivery of the bell-rope to the presentee, who then tolls the church bell . This form of induction is required to give the clerk a legal title to his beneficium, although his admission to the office by institution is sufficient to vacate any other benefice which he may already possess. A benefice

1950-462: The clerk, but the bishop having satisfied himself of the sufficiency of the clerk, collates him to the benefice and office. A bishop need not personally institute or collate a clerk; he may issue a fiat to his vicar-general or to a special commissary for that purpose. After the bishop or his commissary has instituted the presentee, he issues a mandate under seal, addressed to the archdeacon or some other neighbouring clergyman, authorizing him to induct

2015-481: The doctrine and liturgical practice of the Church of England, and take the oaths of allegiance and canonical obedience as defined by Canons of the Church of England. The bishop, by the act of institution, commits to the presentee the cure of souls attached to the office to which the benefice is annexed. In cases where the bishop himself is patron of the benefice, no presentation or petition is required to be tendered by

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2080-530: The entire parish such as cloth or shoes and the people's profits from specific forms of likewise God-given, natural increase such as crops and in livestock. Initially the Catholic Church granted buildings, grants of land and greater and/or lesser tithes for life but the land was not alienated from the dioceses . The Synod of Lyon of 567 annexed these grants to the churches. By the time of the Council of Mainz of 813 these grants were known as beneficia . Holding

2145-640: The evolution of modern European civil law traditions. The history of Latin canon law can be divided into four periods: the jus antiquum , the jus novum , the jus novissimum and the Code of Canon Law . In relation to the Code, history can be divided into the jus vetus (all law before the Code) and the jus novum (the law of the Code, or jus codicis ). The canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches , which had developed some different disciplines and practices, underwent its own process of codification, resulting in

2210-552: The faithful Pars dynamica (trial procedure) Canonization Election of the Roman Pontiff Academic degrees Journals and Professional Societies Faculties of canon law Canonists Institute of consecrated life Society of apostolic life In the Catholic Church , canon law is the system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by the church's hierarchical authorities to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct

2275-428: The feminine form—is a form of land tenure in which a petitioner (grantee) receives a property for a specific amount of time without any change of ownership. The precarium is thus a free gift made on request (or precarius , whence "prayer") and can be revoked. The grantor can reclaim the land and evict the grantee at any time, and the grantee's hold on the land is said to be "precarious". (The adjectival form "precarial"

2340-485: The grant of a benefice in some part of the Empire. Once he had received a benefice, he would take up his residence on it; it was only rarely that a vassus casatus continued to work in the Palace. In the year 800 Pope Leo III placed the crown of Holy Roman Emperor on the head of Charlemagne . This act caused great turmoil for future generations, who would afterward argue that the emperor thereby received his position as

2405-525: The grant of benefices by bishops to clerks in holy orders as a reward for extraordinary services. The holder of a benefice owns the " freehold " of the post (the church and the parsonage house) for life. Such a life freehold is now subject to certain constraints. To comply with European Regulations on atypical workers, the parson's freehold is being phased out in favour of new conditions of service called "common tenure". Precaria The precarium (plural precaria )—or precaria (plural precariae ) in

2470-538: The individual national churches within the Anglican Communion . The way that such church law is legislated , interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these four bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a church council ; these canons formed the foundation of canon law. Greek kanon / Ancient Greek : κανών , Arabic qaanoon / قانون , Hebrew kaneh / קָנֶה , 'straight';

2535-522: The institutions were practically identical. Precarium is discussed in the legal digests of Justinian , and seems to have existed in 6th century Visigothic Spain and France. In feudalism , the use of church lands to support warriors contributed to the growth of precaria in the eighth century in Catholic Europe. Modern historians have sometimes called these lands fiefs ; however, to the extent that they were church property and not property of

2600-745: The legislative measures taken by the state called leges , Latin for laws. The Apostolic Canons or Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles is a collection of ancient ecclesiastical decrees (eighty-five in the Eastern , fifty in the Western Church) concerning the government and discipline of the Early Christian Church, incorporated with the Apostolic Constitutions which are part of

2665-412: The lord or king—although that was a flexible distinction in the ninth and tenth centuries—they were not fiefs. The distinction was between the right of ownership in the ecclesiastical manner ( jure proprio et more ecclesiastico ), which remained with the church, and the right of benefit and usufruct ( jure beneficiario et usufructuario ), which was ceded away. The lord or king often paid

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2730-721: The main five rites (groups) of churches which are in full union with the Holy See and the Latin Church: All of these church groups are in full communion with the Supreme Pontiff and are subject to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches . The Catholic Church has what is claimed to be the oldest continuously functioning internal legal system in Western Europe , much later than Roman law but predating

2795-590: The mixed secular/religious county and local courts used by the Saxons. In contrast to the other courts of England, the law used in ecclesiastical matters is at least partially a civil law system, not common law , although heavily governed by parliamentary statutes. Since the Reformation , ecclesiastical courts in England have been royal courts. The teaching of canon law at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge

2860-461: The nomination (advowson) and the canonical institution (benefice/living, which conferred a jurisdiction) but the state set a fixed system of salaries and would elect the metropolitan bishops who in turn would elect the curates. Parts of these changes remain such as the abolition of the three historic roles mentioned and the constitution is still in force in Belgium . The term benefice, according to

2925-611: The oaths of allegiance and canonical obedience and make a declaration against simony . The first was laid down by the Canons of 1603/04 and modified by the Clerical Subscription Act 1865 which also prescribed the form of the declaration against simony ; the words of the oath of allegiance accorded to the form in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 . Current practice is to make a declaration of assent to

2990-405: The ordination vows and due solicitude for the moral and spiritual welfare of the parishioners. The temporalities are the revenues of the benefice and assets such as the church properties and possessions within the parish. By keeping this distinction in mind, the right of patronage in the case of parochial benefices, or advowson , appears logical, being the right originally vested in the donor of

3055-479: The part of many incumbents, and delegation of their spiritual duties in respect of their cures of souls to assistant curates . The evils attendant on this system were found to be so great that the Pluralities Act 1838 ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106) was passed to abridge the holding of benefices in plurality, requiring that no person should hold under any circumstances more than two benefices and such privilege

3120-405: The patron of the benefice is thus the first requisite in order that a clerk should become legally entitled to a benefice. The next requisite is that he should be admitted by the bishop as a fit person for the spiritual office to which the benefice is annexed, and the bishop is the judge of the sufficiency of the clerk to be so admitted. Under the early constitutions of the Church of England a bishop

3185-513: The primary justifications for divorce. Eventually, the church began to allow remarriage to occur (for both spouses) post-divorce. In 1929 Pius XI informed the Eastern Churches of his intention to work out a Code for the whole of the Eastern Church. The publication of these Codes for the Eastern Churches regarding the law of persons was made between 1949 through 1958 but finalized nearly 30 years later. The first Code of Canon Law (1917)

3250-541: The profits and advantages of the land and its buildings, normally intended to supply the wherewithal required to maintain him and his retinue. If the church did not have enough funds to stay out of poverty the entire land under precaria could be restored to the church. Precaria not only refers to the contract, but also the land under the contract, the benefice (although the term benefice is also used to describe similar but non-religious circumstances). Canon law Canon law (from Ancient Greek : κανών , kanon ,

3315-576: The study of canon law. Much of Catholic canon law's legislative style was adapted from the Roman Code of Justinian . As a result, Roman ecclesiastical courts tend to follow the Roman Law style of continental Europe with some variation, featuring collegiate panels of judges and an investigative form of proceeding, called " inquisitorial ", from the Latin "inquirere", to enquire. This is in contrast to

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3380-488: The temporalities or his nominee, the patron and his successors in title, held the advowson (right to nominate a candidate for the post subject to the approval of the bishop or other prelate as to the candidate's sufficiency for the demands of the post). Parish priests were charged with the spiritual and temporal care of their congregation. The community provided for the priest as necessary, later, as organisation improved, by tithe (which could be partially or wholly lost to

3445-406: The temporalities to present to his bishop a clerk to be admitted, if found fit by the bishop , to the office to which those temporalities are annexed. In other words, the gift of the glebe (a rectory manor or church furlong) was only ever granted subject to receiving an incorporeal hereditament (inheritable and transferable right) for the original donor. Nomination or presentation on the part of

3510-455: The term "benefice" is defined to mean "benefice with cure of souls" and no other, and therein to comprehend all parishes, perpetual curacies, donatives, endowed public chapels, parochial chapelries and chapelries or districts belonging or reputed to belong, or annexed or reputed to be annexed, to any church or chapel. The Pluralities Acts Amendment Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c. 54) superseded these and enacted that by dispensation from

3575-408: The totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power in his person, while particular laws derive formal authority from a legislator inferior to the supreme legislator. The actual subject material of the canons is not just doctrinal or moral in nature, but all-encompassing of the human condition, and therefore extending beyond what is taken as revealed truth . The Catholic Church also includes

3640-502: Was abolished by the Criminal Law Act 1827 . The academic degrees in Catholic canon law are the J.C.B. ( Juris Canonici Baccalaureatus , Bachelor of Canon Law, normally taken as a graduate degree), J.C.L. ( Juris Canonici Licentiatus , Licentiate of Canon Law ) and the J.C.D. ( Juris Canonici Doctor , Doctor of Canon Law ). Because of its specialized nature, advanced degrees in civil law or theology are normal prerequisites for

3705-524: Was abrogated by Henry VIII ; thereafter practitioners in the ecclesiastical courts were trained in civil law , receiving a Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) degree from Oxford , or a Doctor of Laws ( LL.D. ) degree from Cambridge . Such lawyers (called "doctors" and "civilians") were centered at " Doctors Commons ", a few streets south of St Paul's Cathedral in London, where they monopolized probate , matrimonial, and admiralty cases until their jurisdiction

3770-426: Was allowed a space of two months to inquire and inform himself of the sufficiency of every presentee, but by the 95th of the Canons of 1604 that interval was reduced to 28 days, within which the bishop must admit or reject the clerk. If the bishop rejects the clerk within that time he is liable to a duplex querela (Latin: "double complaint", the procedure in ecclesiastical law for challenging a bishop's refusal to admit

3835-562: Was entitled and pay lesser sums to deputies to carry out the corresponding duties. By a Decree of the Lateran Council of 1215 no clerk could hold two benefices with cure of souls, and if a beneficed clerk took a second benefice with cure of souls, he vacated ipso facto his first benefice. Dispensations could easily be obtained from Rome. The benefice system was open to abuse. Acquisitive prelates occasionally held multiple major benefices. The holding of more than one benefice

3900-483: Was exclusively for the Latin Church , with application to the Eastern Churches only "in cases which pertain to their very nature". After the Second Vatican Council (1962 - 1965), the Vatican produced the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches which became the first code of Eastern Catholic Canon Law. The Eastern Orthodox Church , principally through the work of 18th-century Athonite monastic scholar Nicodemus

3965-460: Was in contrast to feudal practice where the nobility would hold land on grant from the king in return for service, especially service in war. This meant that the church over time gained a large share of land in many feudal states and so was a cause of increasing tension between the church and the Crown. The holder of more than one benefice, later known as a pluralist, could keep the revenue to which he

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4030-452: Was in the English legal system, as well as systems, such as the U.S., that derived from it . Here criminals could apply for the benefit of clergy . Being in holy orders, or fraudulently claiming to be, meant that criminals could opt to be tried by ecclesiastical rather than secular courts. The ecclesiastical courts were generally more lenient. Under the Tudors , the scope of clerical benefit

4095-610: Was removed to the common law courts in the mid-19th century. Other churches in the Anglican Communion around the world (e.g., the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada ) still function under their own private systems of canon law. In 2002 a Legal Advisors Consultation meeting at Canterbury concluded: (1) There are principles of canon law common to the churches within

4160-471: Was steadily reduced by Henry VII , Henry VIII , and Elizabeth I . The papacy disputed secular authority over priests' criminal offenses. The benefit of clergy was systematically removed from English legal systems over the next 200 years, although it still occurred in South Carolina in 1855. In English Law, the use of this mechanism, which by that point was a legal fiction used for first offenders,

4225-501: Was subject to the restriction that both benefices must be within 10 miles (16 km) of each other. By the Pluralities Act 1850 ( 13 & 14 Vict. c. 98) restrictions were further narrowed so that no spiritual person could hold two benefices except the churches of such benefices within 3 miles (4.8 km) of each other by the nearest road, and the annual value of one of such benefices did not exceed £100. By this statute

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