Ecclesiastical Tribunals Research Articles

Unveiling Superstition in Vieste: Popular Culture and Ecclesiastical Tribunals in the 18th-Century Kingdom of Naples

This study aims to analyse two trials involving magic, superstition, exorcism, and witchcraft, which were held in 1713 in the Diocese of Vieste (present-day Apulia), Kingdom of Naples. It aims to illuminate the dynamics between the Church, magical practices, and the territorial context, providing insights into this less-explored period in inquisition history when the Catholic Church’s fight against superstition was beginning to wane. The first trial against Rita di Ruggiero is very rich in detail, giving us a clear vision of which magical practices were used during the Modern Age. Additionally, it touches, albeit only marginally, on a theme that will be crucial for the duration of these practices in the Kingdom of Naples: the complex interactions between state and ecclesiastical authorities. The second 1713 trial involving Elisabetta Del Vecchio explores accusations of bewitchment, contributing to our understanding of witchcraft paradigms.

How to get legally rid of an unwanted wife or husband? The Papal Penitentiary and the annulments of marriages through a papal declaration

This article investigates the petitions sent to the Papal Penitentiary for receiving a declaration that states that the petitioner’s marriage was void. It is well-known that the local ecclesiastical tribunals handled numerous litigations regarding marriages, while such cases brought before the Papal Penitentiary have received less scholarly attention. The study is based on mainly unedited source material gathered from the copybooks of the Penitentiary from the pontificate of the Piccolomini Pope Pius II (1458-1464). The article presents all the existing cases and shows in which kinds of cases Christians from most parts of the Western Christendom have turned to the Penitentiary and asked for the annulment of their marital union. The article argues further that the petitioners might have needed the letters of grace from Penitentiary for a litigation process before an ecclesiastical tribunal.

"A chiare lettere - Confronti” • A proposito di guerra o pace ai tribunali ecclesiastici esistenti in Italia. Quale cultura di riforme organiche sta dietro l’attuale pontificato?

SOMMARIO. 1. Preambolo: perseverare diabolicum? - 2. (segue) I tribunali regionali nella attuazione del regime concordatario, in Italia - 3. Ancora in tema di competenza matrimoniale dell’ordinario diocesano. Intermezzo - 4. Corollari di principio in tema di giurisdizione penale e/o amministrativa - 5. Problematicità di una transizione contraddittoria, a ogni livello - 6. (segue) Dalla frammentazione feudale all’armonia di un moderno ordinamento giudiziario.
 Regarding peace of war to the italian ecclesiastical courts. Which is the methodical reform background of pope Francis?
 ABSTRACT: The accentuated tendency of the part of the Vatican (MP Mitis judex) to express a preference for the pastoral attributions of the diocesan bishop in terms of judgment of nullity of canonical marriage, in competition with those of the interdiocesan ecclesiastical tribunals created for the implementation of the concordat regime in Italy (MP Qua cura), could propose in this matter, after the Gospodinoff case (Constitutional Court, dec. N. 1/77) and the Pellegrini case (European Court of Human Rights, sentence 20 July 2001), the risk of a further vulnus to the principles of due process, on the other hand recently renforced in the Italian constitutional order. In dwelling on this inconvenience, the Author observes that the Catholic Church expresses with this, once again, its serious cultural and political delay in relation to the modern systems with which interacts ; and wonders why the Holy See has not decided by now to abandon the institutes and doctrines of ecclesiastical public law with which, starting from the 16th-17th centuries, with intransigence worthy of the better cause is has too often continued to feed the claim to keep on regulate relations with the political authorities on the models , now obsolete and perishable, of the Christian regime. The Author takes the opportunity to indicate how, conversely, the model of the interdiocesan tribunals, even if imperfect, can and should be generalized, in order to begin to solve the set of problems that the lack of modernization of the canonical system proposes, on the subject of the judicial system, in comparison with the level of refinement reached by legislative policy and the science of law (at the state and interstate level), in terms of protection of human rights, in the field of administrative and criminal procedural law.

Parental Authority and Freedom of Marriage: Cases from the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Manila (1781-1790)

Parental Authority and Freedom of Marriage: Cases from the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Manila (1781-1790)

Canon Law Manuscripts in the Medieval Abbey of St. Germain des Prés

Summary This work is an overview on those medieval canon law manuscripts which still testify the literary culture of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Germain des Prés. For the reconstruction of its original collection, have been used the material of two important libraries, i.e. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale and the National Library of St. Petersburg. This description can give an outline on the original medieval library, focusing on its canon law material. The analyzed manuscripts testify not only the ownership by this very abbey, but a flourishing canon law activity in several fields of the ecclesiastical institutionalized life wherein they were used on the day-to-day basis. The several hands and many supplements or inscriptions show well the application of canonical norms for instruction, for cases at the ecclesiastical tribunal, for the interpretation of administration sacraments and sacramentals, particularly regarding the matrimonial and penitential service of the faithful.

Disciplinando a los curas: Inmunidad personal del clero y control real en el virreinato del Perú, 1755-1775

En las últimas décadas del siglo XVIII, la corona borbónica se empeñó en socavar la inmunidad personal del clero. Examinando dos atropellamientos a autoridades reales por parte de curas doctrinarios, esta investigación analiza la capacidad de maniobra política de la Corona y la Iglesia en el virreinato del Perú, antes de la promulgación de limitaciones legales a tal exención. Una de las víctimas fue el gobernador político y militar de Tarma, quien estaba a cargo de reprimir la rebelión india de Juan Santos Atahualpa. A pesar de no lograr que el tribunal eclesiástico castigue satisfactoriamente a los curas, la Corona aprovechó la disputa para fortificar una posición regalista.

Ogólna sanatio in radice udzielona przez Stolicę Apostolską (kan. 1165 §1). Przykład uważnienia małżeństw zawartych bez zachowania formy kanonicznej w Ordynariacie Polowym

The article describes an important issue of the radical sanation granted to numerous couples by the Holy See. According to the can. 1165 diocesan bishop can convalidate in radice only in individual cases, while the Holy See is subject to no restrictions. Although the Holy See has granted general sanation on several occasions, the canonical procedures to apply for such a grace have not been sufficiently explained in literature. Therefore a profound study of the recently given radical sanation to the marriages contracted in the Military Ordinariate of Poland could fill in the abovementioned gap. In 1991-2011 many military chaplains assisted marriages where neither party was subject to their jurisdiction. Those chaplains lacked due delegation as having come from territorial dioceses they failed to understand the requirements of personal jurisdiction. Following restoring the order stipulated by the can. 1110 CIC, the Military Bishop decided to apply to the Holy See of marriages contracted in the first twenty years of the renewed Ordinariate. There was gathered documentation consisting of: a summary of a survey conducted among military chaplains concerning the size of the phenomenon; sentences of ecclesiastical tribunals; a record of website addresses reporting marriage validity problem in the Military Ordinariate; supporting letters signed by certain prominent Polish bishops. Upon delivery of the dossier in 2016, the Congregation for the Divine Cult authorized by Pope Francis issued the radical sanation rescript in December 2017. Not only does the study touches upon a theorical problem, but also provides practical advice for proceeding in similar cases.

La reforma del proceso canónico de nulidad del matrimonio Algunas claves de lectura desde el magisterio del Papa Francisco

This paper analyzes the most relevant aspects of the reform of the canonical process of of marriage carried out through the Motu Proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus (2015). The author proposes some keys to understand this reform from the teachings of Pope Francis, especially in the three speeches to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota. Three aspects are examined in particular: the pastoral mission of ecclesiastical tribunals; the concept of manifest nullity of the shortest process and the question of the relevance of the faith in the validity of canonical marriage. The text also refers to the last Synods of the Catholic Church on the family (in 2014 and 2015) and to the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis Amoris laetitia.

ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE IN POLISH LAW AND DECLARATION OF NULLITY OF MARRIAGE IN CANON LAW – A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Annulment and nullity of marriage are two institutions that function in two separate and independent legal systems. Despite some similarities, they cannot be used interchangeably. The differences between the annulment and declaring nullityof marriage follow mainly from the fact that the canonical marriage between baptized persons is a sacrament, a lifelong and indissoluble bond. For this reason, once validly contracted, it cannot be annulled or dissolved by divorce, but only bythe death of a spouse or a dispensation from an unconsummated marriage and the privilege of faith. In the case when marriage is contracted, despite the existence of impediments to marriage, the ecclesiastical tribunal, after completing the relevant proceedings, declares its nullity whereby this judgment is of a declarative nature. In the case of annulment of marriage, the legislator provided for some restriction as to the persons authorized to file a claim, and it also listed the situations in which, even though marriage was contracted in breach of law, its annulment is not possible. Therefore, convalidation by force of law is permissible. Such validation and such restrictions have not been provided by the ecclesiastical legislator, although the convalidation of marriage is possible as long as the matrimonial consent continues and some additional conditions have been satisfied. The judgment regarding the annulment of marriage is constitutive, although the effects of annulment have retroactive effects, whereby the legislator stated that for certain relationships, the rules of divorce shall be applicable.
 Both in the state and canonical orders, there are three groups of reasons that are the basis for annulment and declaration of nullity of marriage. These are impediments to marriage, defects to the declarations of intention of the spousesand defects to the mandate to contract marriage. The individual reasons have been briefly discussed to present the differences in their understanding under canon law and state law.

Ratum et non consummatum. An Outline of the Procedure

Ratum et non consummatum is an administrative process which aim is to achieve the extraordinary grace of abolition of a valid and sacramental, but not consummated marriage. The process consists of two phases. The first phase takes place at the diocesan ecclesiastical tribunal. In this phase, the process consists of hearings of the claimant and the witnesses, and usually also includes creation of an expert report. The second phase takes place in the Roman Rota.

Psychické příčiny jako důvod neplatnosti manželství u církevního soudu v Olomouci v letech 1983-2013

The article discusses the application of canon 1095 of the Code of Canon Law of 1983 in an ecclesiastical tribunal in Olomouc in the years 1983-2013. It presents the basic principles of application of that canon, and then makes an analysis of the application of this canon to the marriage cases resolved by the ecclesiastical tribunal in Olomouc. The article reflects on the reasons behind the increase in psychological causes of nullity of marriage in relation to other causes of marriage nullity. Possible reasons could be the absence of education involving sacrifice and the lack of positive examples for partnership and parental relationship in the primary family.

L’istruttoria nel processo di nullità matrimoniale ed. by Maria Cristina Bresciani, Francesco Catozzella, Alessia Gullo

Reviewed by: L’istruttoria nel processo di nullità matrimoniale ed. by Maria Cristina Bresciani, Francesco Catozzella, Alessia Gullo Andrea Ponzone L’istruttoria nel processo di nullità matrimoniale, ed. Maria Cristina Bresciani, Francesco Catozzella and Alessia Gullo. Studi giuridici, 108. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2014. Pp. 7–306. The volume, edited by the Arcisodalizio of the Roman Curia, is inserted at number 108 of the prestigious Studi giuridici series of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The text offers an agile close examination, although scientifically deep and complete, of the instructional phase of the canonical process of matrimonial nullity, through the contribution of thirteen different authors. The proposed studies are divided into four main themes: general topics, subjects, development and conclusion, psychology of the testimony. [End Page 299] In the general topics, Stankiewicz (Dean Emeritus at the Roman Rota) offers an historical-juridical overview of the general principles of the instructional phase, focusing in a particular way on the concept of the “burden of proof.” Bianchi (Judicial Vicar of the Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal in Lombardy) presents some of the problems, from a practical point of view, which can arise during the instructional phase, especially in relation to the dynamics between the judge and the parties concerned during the gathering of the proofs. Cito (Professor of Penal Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce) offers some reflections on the possible implications and consequences in the case in which a notitia criminis may emerge during the instructional phase. In the section dedicated to the subjects of the instructional phase, Jaeger (Rotal Judge) offers some practical reflections on the figure and activity of the instructing judge, starting from his experience, first as ecclesiastical judge in the U.S.A., and then as Rotal judge. Gepponi (Judicial Vicar of the Appeal Court of the Vicariate of Rome) analyzes the functions and the role of the defender of the bond and of the promotor of justice; Colombo (Rotal Advocate) explains the rights and duties of the advocates. Following are essays relative to the development and conclusion of the instructional phase: Vanzetto (Judicial Vicar of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal in Triveneto), empowered by his long experience as a judge, offers some practical advice on how a judge should conduct the hearing; Sanchez-Gil (Professor at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce) elaborates an in-depth analysis of the institute of presumption; Arroba Conde (Professor of Processual Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University) comments on the importance of the expertise in the instructional phase; Mingardi (Judicial Vicar of the Flaminio Ecclesiastical Tribunal) closes this third theme expounding upon the conclusion of the instructional phase and on the eventual necessity to reopen it. Three contributions deepen the psychology of the testimony: Janiri (Psychiatrist) tries to explain the clinical aspect of the interview between the court expert and the client; Barbieri (Diagnostic Medical Doctor) offers his observations regarding the evaluation of the court expert medical-canonical reports; finally, Caberletti (Rotal Judge) explains what the “psychology of the judge” should be, that is, how the judge should behave towards the parties during the instructional phase. [End Page 300] The volume ends with an appendix, edited by F. Catozzella, in which are published seven recent Rotal decrees describing the relationship between some of the most severe violations during the instructional phase and the consequences derived from it on the right of defense of the parties, amongst which the nullity of the sentence being foremost. The volume is directed to all the operators of ecclesiastical tribunals and it is of high scientific quality. Surely, the alternation between practical and theoretical contributions make it a complete instrument; unfortunately, the limited experience (except for the contribution of Jaeger) of the authors based only on the reality of Italian Tribunals and the Roman Rota, is translated into a vision and understanding of the instructional phase which differs considerably from other national realities, making the volume less useful outside of the Italian context. [End Page 301] Andrea Ponzone Archdiocese of Boston Braintree, MA Copyright © 2016 The Catholic University of America Press

A First Approach to the Reform of the Process for the Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

After a short preliminary part that concerns especially the state and activity of ecclesiastical tribunals in the world, the author offers a brief presentation of the motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus. In the third part of the contribution, the author considers the intention behind the reform and some of its key points and compares these elements with the Final Report of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of 2014. The author emphasizes that it is too early for an in-depth study of the matter and that the exposition is only a first approach. He strongly welcomes the fact that for the cases of marriage nullity no administrative process was introduced by the new motu proprio, and that the process remains a judicial one, which offers the best guarantees for discovering the truth concerning the marriage bond and protecting its indissolubility. The author concludes by stating that many bishops in the recent meetings of the Synod of Bishops criticized the existing matrimonial nullity process and that Pope Francis is now challenging them to make his reform of the process work.

Nieważność małżeństwa z tytułu przeszkody węzła małżeńskiego. Analiza przypadku w oparciu o deklarację Sygnatury Apostolskiej z 18 czerwca 1987 r.

According to can. 1085 § 1 Code of Canon Law “A person bound by the bond of a prior marriage, even if it was not consummated, invalidly attempts marriage”. Establish the existence of impediment to the marriage bond, however, requires knowledge of not only the doctrine, but appropriate rules proceedings. The presented study is an analysis of impediment to the marriage bond, made on the basis of the case file for nullity of marriage, which was considered one of the ecclesiastical tribunals in Poland. The foundation of the considerations is the declaration of the Apostolic Signatura dated June 18, 1987, where was defined the manner of proceeding reported in declaring the nullity of marriages successively entered. It is a response to the complaints received this Supreme Tribunal concerning the inappropriate manner of proceeding in the case of declaring the nullity of many marriages which have been successively entered into by the same person.

The Service of the Apostolic Signatura in the Church and the Ministry of Justice of the Diocesan Bishop

The author addresses the service of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura to the life of the Church from the perspective of the responsibility of the Diocesan Bishop for the correct administration of justice, in general, and, in more detail, his responsibility for the local ecclesiastical tribunal, as a privileged locus of his judicial ministry. The major part of the work of the Apostolic Signatura, apart from its direct service to the Roman Curia, is service to Diocesan Bishops in fulfilling their fundamental ministry of justice in the particular Churches. The contribution is limited to the treatment of the Diocesan Bishop and his judicial activity, and does not include the important service to Diocesan Bishops in what pertains to individual administrative acts. The contribution is further limited to the legislation of the Latin Church.

Editor’s Introduction

Editor’s Introduction Kurt Martens* The current issue of The Jurist contains two articles by His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. There is a reason to publish these two contributions of the same author in the same issue of The Jurist. Cardinal Burke was invited and had accepted to deliver the Tenth Annual James H. Provost Memorial Lecture. The lecture was scheduled to be given at the School of Canon Law of The Catholic University of America on March 14, 2013. However, because of the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI, the sede vacante and the conclave to elect his successor, the lecture was cancelled because the presenter had to be present in Rome. His Eminence graciously agreed to have the text published in The Jurist. At the same time, he agreed to deliver the Eleventh Annual James H. Provost Memorial Lecture at the School of Canon Law of The Catholic University of America on March 20, 2014. This time around, no other business disrupted the James H. Provost Memorial Lecture. In the first article, His Eminence addresses the service of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura to the life of the Church from the perspective of the responsibility of the diocesan bishop for the correct administration of justice, in general, and, in more detail, his responsibility for the local ecclesiastical tribunal, as a privileged locus of his judicial ministry. The major part of the work of the Apostolic Signatura, apart from its direct service to the Roman Curia, is service to diocesan bishops in fulfilling their [End Page 1] fundamental ministry of justice in the particular Churches. The contribution is limited to the treatment of the diocesan bishop and his judicial activity, and does not include the important service to diocesan bishops in what pertains to individual administrative acts. In the second article, His Eminence focuses on the relation between the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and the local or particular Churches. After setting the context in which the subject must be addressed, he addresses the various areas of competence of the Apostolic Signatura in relation to the local Church. Special attention is paid to the competence of the Apostolic Signatura as an administrative tribunal and as the dicastery which “ensures that justice in the Church is correctly administered.” Finally, in his treatment of the competence for the correct administration of justice in the Church, His Eminence provides a longer reflection on the process for the declaration of nullity of marriage, a topic of special discussion during the time of preparation for the upcoming III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Special reference is made to question 4f of the Preparatory Document Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization. The reflection is a particular fruit of the long experience of the Apostolic Signatura in the care for the correct administration of justice in the Church. Monsignor Kenneth E. Boccafola, Prelate Auditor Emeritus of the Roman Rota, examines in his contribution the lack of faith and its effects on the validity of the matrimonial consent of the baptized. If one lacks faith in marriage as a sacrament, how can he or she celebrate the sacrament validly? He starts by recalling certain principles of the papal magisterium which have been elaborated in Rotal jurisprudence. The question as such is not new: it was also alluded to in certain propositions discussed by the International Theological Commission in their meeting of 1977. The available information on the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2014 and the XIV Ordinary General Assembly in 2015, both on the pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelization, seems to indicate that there is a renewed or ongoing interest in the theme. After the promulgation of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus in 2009, there was significant interest and speculation regarding what would be the liturgical provision for Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church. While [End Page 2] the new Ordinariates may always celebrate the sacred liturgy according to the Roman Rite, the Ordinariates are granted the faculty “to celebrate the Holy Eucharist...

COMENTÁRIOS À INSTRUÇÃO “DIGNITAS CONNUBII”

Recentemente a promulgação da Instrução “Dignitas Connubii” trouxealgumas expectativas. Determinado tipo de imprensa afirma que esta novalegislação será revolucionária como a Humanae Vitae, por exemplo. Naverdade, a instrução é acima de tudo uma tentativa de oferecer auxílio àsatividades nos tribunais eclesiásticos.

From The Gods in Exile

From The Gods in Exile HEINRICH HEINE (Translated by Diskin Clay) I will content myself with saying in a few words that, after the decisive victory of Christianity, the pagan gods of the ancient world came to grips with their difficult situation and the hard necessity they had already experienced in an early age. This was the age of the Revolt of the Titans, who burst the gates of Tartarus, heaped Pelion on Ossa, and scaled Olympus. These poor gods and goddesses were compelled to flee ignominiously with their entire court and they came to conceal themselves among us upon the earth and assume every manner of disguise. Most of the gods took refuge in Egypt, where for self-protection they transformed themselves into animal shapes, as Herodotus tells us. It is exactly in this same manner that the pagan divinities were obliged to flee and seek safety in all manner of disguise and in the most remote hiding places, when the true God appeared with his cross and when the zealous iconoclasts, a black band of monks, shattered their temples and cast anathemas upon the banned gods. A good number of these Olympian refugees had neither ambrosia nor a place of asylum and they had to resort to an honest occupation on earth to gain their daily bread. Some of these gods whose property and sacred woods had been confiscated were even compelled to work as day laborers in our native Germany and drink beer instead of nectar. In this extremity, Apollo seems to have resigned himself to enter the service of cattle farmers. Just as once he herded the cattle of King Admetus, he lived as a herdsman in Lower Austria. But there his melodious singing awakened the susarion 21.1 spring/summer 2013 picions of a learned monk who recognized that he was one of the ancient pagan gods and delivered him up to an ecclesiastical tribunal. Under torture he admitted that he was the god Apollo. He asked for permission to play his lyre and sing a last song before he was led to execution. Now he sang so tenderly and sweetly and there was something so powerful in his singing—and in addition he was so handsome and tall—that the women broke into tears. There were even some who had fallen ill from the intensity of their emotion. After some time had passed, the authorities wanted to remove his body from his tomb and drive a stake of holly through his stomach. They believed that be must be a vampire and that the women who had fallen ill would be cured if they administered this home remedy, which was generally recognized as successful. But, when the tomb was opened, they found it empty. As for Mars, the ancient god of war, I would be inclined to believe that during the age of feudalism he followed his former occupation as a robber knight. The tall Schimmelpenning , the nephew of the Munster executioner, encountered him in Bologna, where he served as Maître des Hautes Œuvres . Some time latter, Mars served as a lansquenet under the command of General Frondsberg and took part in the sack of Rome. No doubt, he must have felt cruel pangs of distress when he witnessed his beloved city, the temples where he himself had been worshipped and the temples of the gods who were cousins to him destroyed so ignominiously. After the Great Defeat, the fate of Bacchus, the handsome Dionysus, was happier than that of Mars and Apollo. On this subject, there is a medieval legend bearing on his fate. In the Tyrol there are great expanses of lakes, surrounded by forests whose trees touch the sky and are reflected in the lakes’ rippling blue waters. From these waters and woods emanate mysterious sounds; they provoke an eerie feeling in the solitary walker in these parts. On the shore of one of these lakes there was the hut of a young man who lived on the fish he caught; in addition to fishing he worked as a ferthe gods in exile 194 ryman whenever a traveler wanted to cross the lake. He had a large boat that he moored...

Uzależnienie od gry a niezdolnośc psychiczna do zawarcia małżeństwa

In the colloquial language the term ‘addiction’ is used mainly with regard to people who abuse drugs (drug addiction), medicines (pharmacomania), alcohol (alcoholism) or cigarettes. In a broader context, it may refer to numerous other behaviours, e.g. gambling games, watching television, the Internet or sex. These are addictions that are frequently less known and described, not always even specified in the official classifications of diseases, such as ICD-10 and DSM IV. This article aims at indicating a ‘new’ problem which the employees of the ecclesiastical court already face – pathological game addiction. Firstly, pathological gaming will be presented as a mental disease, then the profile of a pathological player will be outlined. Furthermore, the aspect of the mental incapacity to contract marriage will be discussed. The judgments of the ecclesiastical tribunals in the subject matter will constitute the last part of the article. The result of the analyses (in the conclusion) will be practical suggestions for a judge in his dialogue with a judicial expert.

Religious Legal Pluralism Revisited - The Status of the Roman Catholic Church and Her Canon Law in Singapore

By religious legal pluralism we usually mean state-recognised legal pluralism, such as the kind of legal pluralism implemented in Singapore through the Administration of Muslim Law Act. But there is also religious legal pluralism outside State recognition and enforcement. Many religions have very long legal traditions which have survived, often without much support or official recognition by States (Jewish law, for example). In this paper we shall look at one such tradition, the canon law of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church and its implementation by the Church in Singapore, including the establishment of very busy ecclesiastical tribunals in Singapore to administer disputes relating to the possible nullity of religious marriages, for example. The hope is that this example of Canon Law in Singapore will show that there can be very detailed and formal religious laws implemented by formal institutions such as tribunals outside the ambit of the State.