The Bible includes the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is a classic of Judaism, which was formed in the 3rd century BC to 1 century AD and was completely inherited by Christianity. The Torah is the essence of the Old Testament, with five volumes, among which Exodus is the oldest Hebrew law, centering on the Ten Commandments formulated by Moses. The New Testament is a classic of Christianity itself, which was formed from the second half of 1 century to the second half of the 2nd century. The collection of papal decrees is a compilation of decrees, encyclicals and decrees issued by the Pope and the Catholic Church. It is another important source of canon law and an important part of medieval law in Western Europe. At first, it was compiled by private individuals, and in the13rd century, it began to compile official church codes.
The earliest church collection is1the Gracie church collection in the middle of the 2nd century. At the end of 16, Gregory XIII compiled it with later church collections and named it "The Complete Book of Church Law", which became an important source of church law in the late Middle Ages. The hierarchy is a hierarchy that stipulates Christian clergy and educational administration. It sprouted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and gradually improved in the 4th century after Christianity became the official religion of Rome. After the split between the eastern and western churches in 1 1 century (1054), the Catholic church system was further established and reached its peak in13rd century. It is based on the concept that "the whole world is a hierarchical structure dominated by God" and reflects the secular feudal autocracy of the church.
According to the canon law, the Pope is the supreme ruler of the Christian church, and he has the highest and most complete jurisdiction over the morality and discipline, politics and economy of the church and its followers. Have the right to convene religious meetings, approve resolutions of the meetings, appoint and recall bishops, and divide parishes; The pope is the highest trial level of the church court, and the pope himself is not subject to any trial. Since 1 1 century, the Pope has been elected by cardinals for life and cannot be removed except for heresy. The Pope has such "complete authority" and "complete power" not because of the sanctity of Christian doctrine, but more because of his secularity as the highest official of the church.
Below the Pope is a cardinal, who is also called a cardinal because he wears a red robe. Cardinals are appointed by the Pope and are responsible for leading all ministries and important parishes. The Council of Cardinals is the highest advisory body of the Pope.
Bishops exercise management power in general parishes, are elected by the Pope, and swear allegiance to the Pope. The diocese is divided into several parishes, and each parish has 1 priests who preside over religious ceremonies and conduct missionary activities. After a certain period of time, a priest can be promoted to bishop. Monks and nuns are junior faculty members who serve the church all their lives. Their duty is to assist the pastor to handle daily affairs and engage in prayer and missionary work.
The canon law stipulates the privileges and obligations of clergy. Such as judicial privilege, military service immunity, the obligation of introspection and repentance, the obligation to publicize teachings and faithfully perform teaching duties. The church is the largest feudal system in Europe, and feudal land ownership is the economic basis for the church to survive and enjoy privileges. According to the church law, the church has the right to acquire, retain and control its land and movable property independently, and is not bound by the secular government.
The Church Law also regards tithing tax, birth tax, church tax and monastery tax, as well as legal fees, gifts and inheritance as the ways for the church to obtain legal property. The debt law is underdeveloped and there are few provisions on contracts. The provisions of secular law on contract have the same effect in church law. In case of conflict, the canon law shall prevail.
(1) advocates that the standard of contract should be equal and reasonable.
(2) profit-making, usury and profiteering in business are prohibited.
(3) The system of contract termination has been developed, that is, one party fails to keep its promise and the other party is not bound by the contract. But in order to save the soul of the contractor, the contract sworn by the contractor must be fulfilled and must not be torn up under any excuse.
(4) Recognize the right of "dead mortgage". "Dead mortgage" means that the creditor has the right to obtain the fruits of the mortgaged land or property, but may not use the proceeds to pay off debts. This system actually circumvents the church's principle of "prohibiting usury". The system of marriage, family and inheritance in church law is the product of Roman factors and Germanic factors on the basis of Christian spirit.
(1) established the principles of "monogamy" and "never divorce".
The canon law allows judicial separation on the grounds of adultery, apostasy or serious cruelty, but it does not allow divorce in the modern sense. However, an unfulfilled marriage can be dissolved by one party becoming a priest or by the Pope under any circumstances. In addition, in some cases, the party who converts to Christianity can divorce the spouse who is still a heretic.
If a marriage cannot be dissolved, but it is prohibited, the marriage shall be revoked and may be declared null and void. At the same time, the church law has made detailed provisions on the marriage that should be prohibited and the conditions for revoking the marriage, and stipulated the intermarriage system in the marriage that should be prohibited. 12 15 was defined as collateral blood relatives within the seventh generation and collateral blood relatives within the fourth generation.
(2) It is stipulated that "mutual consent is a necessary condition for establishing a marriage relationship". A religious ceremony should be held when getting married. In addition, determine other necessary conditions besides "consent" to determine the validity of marriage.
(3) Provisions on marital obstacles. The church laws of12nd century and13rd century simplified and relaxed the early provisions on marriage obstacles based on blood relationship and in-laws relationship.
(4) Provisions on the status of the female party in marriage. Church law adheres to the principle that both parties to a marriage are equal before God, and recognizes the equivalence of marriage obligations and loyalty obligations. However, in the church marriage system, the principle of inequality between husband and wife in ancient secular law is affirmed, and the wife is in the subordinate position of the husband, and strict restrictions on women's property and their general civil rights are also stipulated.
(5) The system of testamentary succession and intestate succession is adopted, but it is limited to movable property, and the inheritance of immovable property is still stipulated by secular law. Because a considerable part of the church's property comes from gifts, especially bequests, the church advocates testamentary succession. As for the form of will, oral will is allowed and has the same legal effect as written will. Crime and punishment are full of religious colors. Crimes in church law are generally not a direct violation of political order and general society, but an infringement on God. Accordingly, the punishment of criminals is mainly regarded as an "atonement act" that damages the glory of God, and it is also an act of repentance that reconciles victims with criminals. Church law provides for various religious crimes.
The main types of punishment are: punishment, revenge and redemption, secular punishment. Punishment includes: abandonment punishment (a severe punishment system, according to which anyone who seizes church property is not allowed to take part in the sacrament to receive the sacred object, accept the position of honor, salary and sacred object, accept the position of church, exercise the right to vote, and not associate with relatives and friends); Prohibition of sacrament punishment (those who are punished by this punishment shall not be consecrated, given sacred objects, or have church funerals); The punishment of removing a priest from the priesthood (only applicable to priests, meaning removing the priesthood, San Lu). Revenge punishment includes: fine, prohibition from teaching, except grade punishment. Salvation is achieved by reading specific scriptures, giving alms and worshipping holy places. After the rise of the "heresy" movement, the death penalty was widely applied to religious crimes. The litigation system of church law mostly originates from Roman law and has some innovations.
(1) Church litigation documents (different from Roman law and Germanic law). According to church law, civil or criminal proceedings can only be initiated by a written petition or accusation containing a brief statement of facts. The defendant shall also give a written reply to the plaintiff's or accuser's request. In addition, the judge's judgment, the parties' inquiries about witnesses and mutual inquiries should be written. In criminal proceedings, inquisitorial litigation is adopted, that is, the court can investigate the case according to the report of the public or the complaint of the victim, and the official is responsible for investigating the evidence and executing the penalty.
(2) The evidence must be produced under oath, and the crime of perjury will be severely punished.
(3) Church litigation allows the parties to be represented by agents, who debate legal issues in court according to the facts revealed by the evidence.
(4) Church litigation procedure is a binary system with two parallel procedures. One is a "solemn and formal" procedure, and the other is a "simple and fair" procedure, which does not require legal representatives, written debates or written inquiries.
(5) In criminal proceedings, the judge is required to ask the parties according to the principles of reason and conscience. That is, the judge must be convinced of his heartfelt judgment, and the judge must also put himself in the position of trial in court to ensure the fairness and objectivity of the case.
(6) establishing heresy court
The heresy inquisition is a special criminal court established by the Catholic church in western Europe in the 13 century, also known as the inquisition. It is a judicial institution directly subordinate to the Pope and specializes in hearing religious cases. By establishing this institution to cooperate with secular feudal laws, the church developed inquisitorial litigation into an extremely brutal and cruel trial system: there is no need to prosecute, and the court takes the initiative to investigate; Conduct secret trials with the presumption of guilt as the guiding ideology; Extorting a confession by torture, all testimony in favor of the defendant can not be established; Penalties are penance, confiscation of property and death penalty; The cruel strangulation of progressive ideas and science. In this sense, the canon law is a feudal law in the Middle Ages.