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Das Schlagwort C. R. E. R. (lat. »Wes das Land, des der Glaube«) wurde vom evang. Kanonisten Joachim Stephani Anfang des 17. Jh.s für die Bestimmung des Augsburger Religionsfriedens vom 29. 9. 1555 geprägt, wonach den Reichsständen für ihre Territorien die Freiheit der Entscheidung zwischen Katholizismus (Römisch-katholische Kirche) und Luthertum (Protestantismus; Evangelische Kirchen) zugestanden wurde. Damit war der Ewige Landfriede von 1495 auf religiöse Belange erweitert und das Reichsketzerrecht daher endgültig nicht mehr auf die lut…

The slogan cuius regio eius religio (Latin, “whose land, his religion”) was coined early in the 17th century by the Protestant canon lawyer Joachim Stephani to describe key principle of the Peace of Augsburg of September 29, 1555, which gave the Imperial estates the freedom of deciding between Catholicism (Roman Catholic Church) and Lutheranism (Protestantism; Protestant churches) in their own territories. The “Perpetual Peace” (King's peace) of 1495 was thereby extended to religious concerns, and Im…

[English Version] Rhalles, Konstantin (17.9.1867 Athen – 22.12.1942 ebd.), 1886 bis 1889 Studium in Leipzig, 1891 Habil. für röm. Recht in Athen. Seit 1897 im Kultusministerium tätig, nahm er 1910 den Ruf an den Lehrstuhl für kanonisches Recht an der Theol. Fakultät in Athen an. 1916 übernahm er den Lehrstuhl für Kirchenrecht an der juristischen Fakultät, den er bis zu seiner Emeritierung 1937 innehatte. – Gemeinsam mit H. Alivisatos bestimmte Rh. in der Folge die griech. Kirchenrechtswiss. Von sei…

[English Version] . Nach kath. Kirchenrecht können Weltgeistliche ohne Beschränkung letztwillig verfügen. Es wird ihnen allerdings partikularrechtlich die Errichtung letztwilliger Verfügungen nahegelegt, in denen auch kirchl. Einrichtungen bedacht werden sollen. – Gemäß c.668 CIC/1983 sind Ordensangehörige nach Ablegung der ewigen Profeß grundsätzlich nicht mehr testierfähig. Sie haben daher spätestens zu diesem Zeitpunkt ein Testament zu errichten, das auch vor dem weltl. Recht gültig ist. – Nach…

[English Version] Phillips, George (6.1.1804 Königsberg – 6.9.1872 Aigen, Salzburg). Nach Studien in Berlin und Göttingen wurde P. 1826 PD, 1827 a.o. Prof. für Dt. Recht in Berlin. Nach seiner Konversion zum Katholizismus wurde er 1828 Prof. für Gesch. und später der Rechte in München, wo er in engen Beziehungen zum Görreskreis stand (J. v. Görres), seine Professur jedoch im Gefolge der Lola-Montez-Affäre verlor. Ph. vertrat als Abgeordneter der Frankfurter Nationalversammlung eine großdt.-konserva…

[English Version] Plöchl, Willibald Maria (7.7.1907 St. Pölten – 27.5.1984 Wien). P. habilitierte sich 1935 für Kirchenrecht unter bes. Berücksichtigung des orientalischen Kirchenrechts an der rechtswiss. Fakultät der Universität Wien. Aus polit. Gründen verfolgt, gelang ihm die Flucht in die USA, wo er auch als östr. Exilpolitiker tätig war. 1941 nahm P. die Lehrtätigkeit für orientalisches Kirchenrecht und Rechtsphilos. an der Catholic University von Washington auf. 1949 folgte er seinem Lehrer R…

[German Version] According to Catholic canon law, secular clergy can make wills without restriction. Particular law, however, suggests that they make wills that also consider church institutions. According to canon 668 CIC/1983, members of orders are, in principle, no longer able to make a will after taking solemn vows. Consequently, they must make a will beforehand that is also valid under secular law. According to state law in Germany and Austria, there are no restrictions on the testamentary capacity of members of orders. Richard Potz Bibliography B. Primetshofer, “Die Religio…

[German Version] (Sep 17, 1867, Athens – Dec 22, 1942, Athens). After studying from 1886 to 1889 in Leipzig, he received his habilitation in Roman law in Athens. He began working in the ministry of culture in 1897, then accepted appointment to the chair of canon law at the faculty of theology in Athens. In 1916 he moved to the faculty of law, where he also held the chair of canon law until he retired in 1937. With ¶ H. Alivisatos, Rhalles came to dominate the study of Greek canon law. Within his impressive oeuvre, his unfinished handbook on the canon law of Greece deserves…

[German Version] (Jul 7, 1907, St. Pölten – May 27, 1984, Vienna), gained his habilitation in 1935 in the faculty of law at the University of Vienna, for work in the field of canon law, with special emphasis on the Eastern Church. Persecuted for political reasons, he managed to flee to the United States, where he was active as an Austrian politician in exile. In 1941 he began teaching Eastern canon law and philosophy of law at the Catholic University of Washington; in 1949 he succeeded his teacher, Rudolf Köstler, as full professor of canon law in the faculty of law in Vienna. Central to his scho…

[German Version] (Jan 6, 1804, Königsberg – Sep 6, 1872, Aigen, Salzburg). After studying in Berlin and Göttingen, Phillips became a Privatdozent in 1826, and in 1827 assistant professor of German law in Berlin. After his conversion to Catholicism he became professor of history in 1828 in Munich, and later of law; in Munich he formed close connections to the circle of J. v. Görres, but lost his chair following the Lola Montez affair. As a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly, he followed a conservative Catholic…

[German Version] (Gk ἐπιείκεια/ epieíkeia, “equity”), a principle for implementing justice in individual cases, according to which, the individual is empowered to make a decision of conscience against the binding force of a law in isolated instances. The doctrine of epiky has its origin in Aristotle's doctrine of virtue. Epiky was for him a better justice, for it made correction of the law possible; on account of its generality and the abundance of what life brings, the law necessarily remains incomplete. Thomas Aquinas associated the Aristotelian concept of epiky with the aequitas of…

[German Version] (Lat. ecclesia supplet = “the church supplements”). In Catholic canon law, under ¶ certain circumstances absent jurisdiction is replaced according to CIC c.144 §1. This is not the sanctioning of invalid legal acts but the legal delegation of authority or jurisdiction in cases involving either an actual or legally assumed error on the part of the ecclesiastical community in question or a positive and demonst…

[German Version] “Circulars” with a collective circle of addressees have an old church tradition. Byzantine Orthodoxy employs encyclicals especially for patriarchal and synodal pastoral letters. In the West, papal letters with collective inscriptions – associated, indeed, with the development of papal universalism – have appeared since the 13th century. Since Benedict XIV, th…

[German Version] Laicization means deprivation of the clerical state – by current canon law acquired at ordination to the diaconate. It is regulated by CIC/1983 ¶ cc. 290–293 and CCEO cc. 394–398. Once validly received, ordination (Consecration/Ordination/Dedication: I) can never be invalidated ( character indelibilis). Loss of the clerical state by suspension of membership in the clergy and return to the lay state (Laity: III, 1) can result from the penalty of dismissal lawfully imposed or, as a boon, by rescript of the Apostolic See. Th…

[German Version] Canon 85 of the CIC defines dispensation as the relaxation of a merely ecclesiastical law in a particular case. It can be granted within the limits of their competence by those who have executive power and by those who either explicitly or implicitly have the power of dispensing, whether by virtue of the law itself or by lawful delegation. The terminology is not totally consistent, so that other acts of clemency can also be called dispensatio, for example, dissolution of a ratified but unconsummated marriage (c. 1697 CIC). A ¶ dispensation must not lead to exemption fr…

[German Version] I. History – II. The Present – III. Orthodox Church – IV. The Study of Canon Law and Church Law – V. Practical Theology – VI. Oriental Orthodox Canon Law I. History 1. Early Church. The church has had laws ever since Christians recognized the need for a generally recognized authority to regulate the uncertainties, problems, and controversies involving church discipline brought about by the rapid expansion of Christianity. After the death of the initial authority figures (e.g. the fou…