Interpretation (canon law)

Part of a series on the
Canon law of the
Catholic Church

Ius vigens (current law)

* 1983 Code of Canon Law
* Omnium in mentem
* Magnum principium
* Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches
* Ad tuendam fidem
* Ex corde Ecclesiae
* Indulgentiarum Doctrina
* Pastor bonus
* Pontificalis Domus
* Veritatis gaudium
* Custom
* Matrimonial nullity trial reforms of Pope Francis
* Documents of the Second Vatican Council
* Christus Dominus
* Lumen gentium
* Optatam totius
* Orientalium ecclesiarum
* Presbyterorum ordinis
* Sacrosanctum concilium
* Precepts of the Church

Legal history

Jus antiquum (c. 33-1140)

* Ancient Church Orders
* Didache
* The Apostolic Constitutions
* Canons of the Apostles
* Collections of ancient canons
* Collectiones canonum Dionysianae
* Collectio canonum quadripartita
* Collectio canonum Quesnelliana
* Collectio canonum Wigorniensis
* Decretum Gelasianum
* Symmachian forgeries
* Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals
* Donation of Constantine
* Gregorian Reform
* Lay investiture controversy
* Dictatus papae
* Libertas ecclesiae
* Plenitudo potestatis

Jus novum (c. 1140-1563)

* Corpus Juris Canonici
* Decretum Gratiani
* Decretist
* Canon Episcopi
* Margaritae
* Jus commune
* Decretals of Gregory IX
* Decretalist
* Regulæ Juris
* Extravagantes
* Liber Septimus

Jus novissimum (c. 1563-1918)

* Council of Trent
* Benedictus Deus (Pius IV)
* Tametsi
* Apostolicae Sedis moderationi

Jus codicis (1918-present)

* 1917 Code of Canon Law
* Ecclesiae Sanctae
* 1983 Code of Canon Law

Other

* Contractum trinius
* Papal judge-delegate
* Right of option

Oriental law

* Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches
* Eastern Canonical Reforms of Pius XII
* Nomocanon
* Archeparchy
* Eparchy
* Exarchate
* Ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful
* Protosyncellus
* Territory dependent on the Patriarch

Liturgical law

Latin Church

* General Roman Calendar
* Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite
* General Instruction of the Roman Missal
* Code of Rubrics
* Magnum principium
* Liturgiam authenticam
* Mysterii Paschalis
* Sacrosanctum concilium
* Tra le sollecitudini
* Musicam sacram
* Summorum Pontificum
* Quattuor abhinc annos
* Ecclesia Dei
* Red Mass
* Holy Day of Obligation

Sacramental law

* Communicatio in sacris
* Ex opere operato
* Omnium in mentem
* Valid but illicit

Sacraments

* Holy Orders
* Impediment (canon law)
* Abstemius
* Defect of birth
* Obligation of celibacy
* Nullity of Sacred Ordination
* Apostolicae curae
* Dimissorial letters
* Episcopal Co-Consecrators
* Approbation
* Confession
* Penitential canons
* Paenitentiale Theodori
* Seal of the Confessional
* Internal forum
* Note on the importance of the internal forum and the inviolability of the Sacramental Seal
* Apostolic Penitentiary
* Canon penitentiary
* Complicit absolution
* Sacramentum Poenitentiae
* Eucharist
* Eucharistic discipline
* Canon 915
* Celebret
* Mass stipend

Sacramentals

* Indulgence
* Indulgentiarum doctrina

Sacred places

* Altars
* Major basilica
* Minor basilica
* Oratory (chapel)

Sacred times

* Feast days
* Fast days and abstinence
* Paenitemini
* Holy day of obligation

Matrimonial law

* Canonical form (Latin Church)
* Tametsi
* Ne Temere
* Banns of Marriage
* Declaration of Nullity
* Dignitas connubii
* Matrimonial Nullity Trial Reforms of Pope Francis
* Vetitum
* Defender of the Bond
* Impediments to Marriage
* Affinity
* Bigamy
* Clandestinity
* Impediment of crime
* Disparity of Cult
* Ligamen
* Public propriety
* Matrimonial Dispensation
* Ratum sed non consummatum
* Sanatio in radice
* Natural marriage
* Pauline privilege
* Petrine privilege

Supreme authority, particular
churches, & canonical structures

Supreme authority of the Church

* Roman Pontiff
* College of Bishops

Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures

* College of Cardinals

* Conference of bishops
* Synod of Bishops

Particular churches

* Churches sui juris
* Latin Church
* Eastern Catholic Churches
* Local particular churches
* Appointment of bishops
* Abbacy nullius
* Apostolic vicariate
* Apostolic vicar
* Apostolic administration
* Apostolic administrator
* Diocese/Archdiocese
* Aeque principaliter
* Cathedraticum
* In persona episcopi
* Diocesan Curia
* Moderator of the Curia
* Chancery
* Deanery
* Vicar forane
* Archeparchy
* Eparchy
* Eparchal curia
* Territory dependent on the Patriarch
* Military ordinariate
* Mission sui juris
* Personal ordinariate
* Anglicanorum Coetibus

Juridic persons

* Parish
* Team of priests in solidum
* Collegiate church
* Register
* Lay trusteeism
* Roman Curia
* Dicastery
* Congregation
* Pontifical council
* Personal Prelature
* Types of membership of Opus Dei
* Association of the Christian faithful
* Vicar general
* Quinquennial visit ad limina

Jurisprudence

* Canonical coronation
* Canonically crowned images
* Computation of time
* Custom
* Delegata potestas non potest delegari
* Derogation
* Dispensation
* Taxa Innocentiana
* Faculty
* Indult
* Impediment
* Interpretation
* Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
* Jurisdiction
* Peritus
* Obreption & subreption
* Obrogation
* Promulgation
* Resignation of the Roman Pontiff
* Sede vacante
* Simony
* Vacatio legis
* Valid but illicit
* Visitation
* Apostolic visitor

Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of canon law

* Theology
* Ecclesiology
* Treatise on Law
* Determinatio

Temporal goods (property)

* Benefice
* Cathedraticum
* Contract law
* Mass stipend
* Stole fee
* Temporalities

Law of persons

* Person (canon law)
* Formal act of defection from the Catholic Church
* Canonical age
* Emancipation
* Exemption

Clerics

* Secular clergy
* Regular clergy
* Obligation of celibacy
* Clerics and public office
* Incardination and excardination
* Laicization (dispensation)
* Canonical faculties

Office

* Canonical provision
* Canonical election

Juridic and physical persons

* Jus patronatus

Associations of the faithful

Consecrated life

Canonical documents

* Acta Apostolicae Sedis
* Acta Sanctae Sedis
* Censor librorum
* Imprimatur
* Imprimi potest
* Notary (canon law)
* Protonotary apostolic
* Apostolic constitution
* Canon
* Concordat
* Decree
* Decretal
* Encyclical
* Motu proprio
* Ordinance
* Papal brief
* Papal bull
* Penitential
* Positive law
* Rescript
* Parish register
* Ecclesiastical Latin

Penal law

* Canon 1324
* Canon 1398
* Censure (canon law)
* De delictis gravioribus
* Complicit absolution
* Crimen sollicitationis
* Excommunication
* List of excommunicable offences in the Catholic Church
* List of people excommunicated by the Catholic Church
* List of excommunicated cardinals
* Interdict
* Internal forum
* Laicization (penal)
* Latae sententiae
* Lifetime of prayer and penance
* Canonical admonitions
* Ecclesiastical prison

Procedural law

Pars statica (tribunals & ministers/parties)

* Tribunals
* Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
* Tribunal of the Roman Rota
* Apostolic Penitentiary
* Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
* Ministers of Justice
* Judicial Vicar/Officialis
* Auditor
* Parties
* Defender of the Bond
* Procurator

Pars dynamica (trial procedure)

* Dignitas connubii (matrimonial causes)
* Appeal as from an abuse
* Presumption
* Penal procedure
* Vos estis lux mundi

Canonization

* Congregation for the Causes of Saints
* Maiorem hac dilectionem
* Advocatus Diaboli
* Oblatio vitae
* Positio
* Beatification and canonization process in 1914

Election of the Roman Pontiff

* Current law
* Universi Dominici gregis
* Papal renunciation
* Reforms of Pope Benedict XVI
* Historical
* Cum proxime
* Jus exclusivae
* Papal appointment
* Aeterni Patris Filius
* Romano Pontifici eligendo
* Ingravescentem aetatem
* Ubi periculum
* Quia propter

Legal practice and scholarship

* List of legal abbreviations

Academic degrees

* Licentiate of Canon Law
* Doctor of Canon Law
* Doctor of both laws

Journals and Professional Societies

* Canon Law Society of America
* The Jurist

Faculties of canon law

* School of Canon Law

Canonists

* Medieval
* Gratian
* Hostiensis
* Jean Lemoine
* Raymond of Penyafort
* Rufinus
* Johannes Teutonicus
* Geoffrey of Trani
* Burchard of Worms
* Brocard
* Modern & Contemporary
* Eugenio Corecco
* John D. Faris
* Pietro Gasparri
* Ladislas Orsy
* Edward N. Peters

Law of consecrated life

* Solemn vow
* Exclaustration
* Manifestation of Conscience
* Canonical erection of a house of religious
* Pontifical right
* Diocesan right
* Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

Institute of consecrated life

* Religious institute
* Congregation
* Order
* Monasticism
* Canons regular
* Mendicant orders
* Clerics regular
* Secular institute
* Cum Sanctissimus
* Primo Feliciter
* Provida Mater Ecclesia

Society of apostolic life

* Decretum laudis

* v
* t
* e

Regarding the canon law of the Catholic Church, canonists provide and obey rules for the interpretation and acceptation of words, in order that legislation is correctly understood and the extent of its obligation is determined.

## Contents

* 1 Authentic interpretation
* 1.1 Table of authentic interpretations
* 2 Rules of interpretation
* 2.1 Words
* 3 Magisterial doctrine on canonical interpretation "within the Church"
* 4 References
* 4.1 Notes
* 5 Bibliography
* 6 External links

## Authentic interpretation

An "authentic interpretation" is an official and authoritative interpretation of a statute issued by the legislator of the statute. In canon law an authentic interpretation has the force of law.

Besides the Supreme Pontiff (Pope), who has plenary legislative power, several other authorities in the Catholic Church have various grades of legislative power. Primary examples are diocesan bishops and their equivalents, episcopal conferences, and particular councils.[1] Any of these legislators can issue authentic interpretations of their own[2] and their predecessors' laws.[3] Authentic interpretations supersede even administrative decisions of ordinaries and judgments of ecclesiastical courts, because neither of these acts have the force of law which authentic interpretations have.[4] The effect of an authentic interpretation is contingent on the extent of the interpretation:

> An authentic interpretation which is presented by way of a law has the same force as the law itself, and must be promulgated. If it simply declares the words which are certain in themselves, it has retroactive force. If it restricts or extends a law or explains a doubtful one, it is not retroactive.[5]

Legislators also can entrust the power to authentically interpret their laws to another.[6] For the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, and other Papal laws, the Supreme Pontiff has delegated authority of authentic interpretation to the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.[7] The following table lists the authentic interpretations that this dicastery has issued (with Papal approbation).

### Table of authentic interpretations

Latin Canon(s) | Publication | Summary

|
|

Can. 87, §1  | AAS, v. 77 (1985), p. 771  | Diocesan bishop cannot dispense from canonical form for the marriage of two Catholics.
Can. 119, 1º  | AAS, v. 82 (1990), p. 845  | Relative majority suffices on the third scrutiny.
Can. 127, §1  | AAS, v. 77 (1985), p. 771  | Superior does not have the right of voting, unless it is an existing custom in the community.
Can. 230, §2  | AAS, v. 86 (1994), p. 541-542  | Both lay men and women can serve at the altar.
Cann. 346, §1 and 402, §1  | AAS, v. 83 (1991), p. 1093  | Bishops emeriti may be elected to the Synod of Bishops.
Cann. 434 and 452  | AAS, v. 81 (1989), p. 388  | Auxiliary bishops cannot fill office of president of an episcopal conference.
Can. 455, §1 (also cann. 31-3)  | AAS, v. 77 (1985), p. 771  | "General decrees" includes general executory decrees.
Can. 502, §1  | AAS, v. 76 (1984), p. 746-747  | Consultor continues in office even when no longer a member of presbyteral council.

Consultors need not be replaced unless the minimum required number is lacking.

Can. 509, §1  | AAS, v. 81 (1989), p. 991  | It is not required to select the president of a chapter of canons by election.
Can. 684, §3  | AAS, v. 79 (1987), p. 1249  | "Religious" includes religious in temporary vows.
Can. 700  | AAS, v. 78 (1986), p. 1323–1324  | Religious to be notified of dismissal after confirmation by Holy See.

Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes to receive suspensive recourse against dismissal.

Cann. 705-7  | AAS, v. 78 (1986), p. 1323–1324  | A religious bishop does not enjoy active and passive voice in his own institute.
Cann. 705-7  | AAS, v. 80 (1988), p. 1818–1819  | Religious appointed judges of the Roman Rota are not exempt from the religious Ordinary.
Can. 767, §1  | AAS, v. 79 (1987), p. 1249  | Diocesan bishop cannot dispense from the prescription that the homily is reserved to priests or deacons.
Can. 830, §3  | AAS, v. 79 (1987), p. 1249  | Imprimaturs must indicate the name of the Ordinary giving his permission, and where and when the permission was given.
Can. 910, §2 (also Can. 230, §3)  | AAS, v. 80 (1988), p. 1373  | Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion cannot exercise their function when ordinary ministers (who are not impeded from distributing the Eucharist) are present in the church, even though not celebrating the Mass.
Can. 917  | AAS, v. 76 (1984), p. 746-747  | A person may receive Holy Communion on the same day only twice, outside of the danger of death.
Can. 951, §1  | AAS, v. 79 (1987), p. 1132  | Mass offerings for multiple celebrations on the same day are to be sent to the proper Ordinary of the celebrant.
Can. 964, §2  | AAS, v. 90 (1998), p. 711[8] | A priest may choose to hear confession in a confessional with a fixed grille.
Can. 1103  | AAS, v. 79 (1987), p. 1132  | Force and fear invalidate the matrimonial consent of non-Catholics as well.
Can. 1263  | AAS, v. 81 (1989), p. 991  | External schools of religious institutes of pontifical right are not subject to taxation by diocesan bishop.
Can. 1367[9] | AAS, v. 91 (1999), p. 918  | "Desecration" includes any voluntary and gravely comptemptuous action towards the Eucharistic species.
Can. 1398  | AAS, v. 80 (1988), p. 1818–1819  | "Abortion" includes the killing of a fetus in any way whatsoever, at any time from the moment of conception onwards.
Cann. 1522 and 1525  | AAS, v. 78 (1986), p. 1324  | Can reintroduce a case in another tribunal after instance is finished through peremption or renunciation.
Can. 1673, 3º  | AAS, v. 78 (1986), p. 1323–1324  | The judicial vicar of the interdiocesan tribunal of the respondent cannot give the consent required for hearing a nullity case in the diocese of the plaintiff.
Can. 1686 (also Cann. 1066–7)  | AAS, v. 76 (1984), p. 746-747  | The pre-nuptial investigation suffices to determine the invalidity of a prior marriage due to lack of canonical form; a declaration of nullity via the documentary process is not required.
Can. 1737 (also Can. 299, §3)  | AAS, v. 80 (1988), p. 1818  | A non-juridical group with a grievance must take hierarchical recourse as individuals.

## Rules of interpretation

In general, the authentic interpretation of a law may be made by the legislator or his successor or superior, but when this is not the case recourse must be had to what is called magisterial, or doctrinal, interpretation. It is for this latter mode that rules have been formed.

### Words

The specific words of a law are understood according to their usual signification, unless it is certain that the legislator intended them to be understood otherwise. When words are unambiguous, they must not be twisted into another, improbable signification. If the intention of the legislator regarding words in question is known, interpretation must accord therewith, rather than with the usual signification of the words, because in this instance the words are said not to be nude but rather clothed with the will of the legislator.

When a law is stated in general terms, it is presumed that no exception was intended; that is, if the general law states no exception, interpreters may not distinguish specific cases. Regarding all interpretations, however, that signification of the words in question is to be preferred that favors equity rather than strict justice. An argument can be made from the contrary signification of the words, provided that it does produce a result that is absurd, inappropriate, or contradicted by another law. Further, the provisions of a prior statute are presumed not to be changed beyond the express signification of the words of a new law.

When a law is penal in nature, its words are to be construed in their strictest sense and not to be extended to cases that are not explicitly stated, but when a law concedes favors, its words are to be interpreted in their widest sense. "In contracts, words are to be taken in their full [plena] meaning, in last wills in a wider [plenior] sense, and in grants of favours in their widest [plenissimi] interpretation".[10] When the signification of words is doubtful, that sense is to be preferred that does not prejudice the rights of a third person, i. e., a person whom the law does not directly affect or concern.

Words of a law are never presumed to be superfluous. Words must be considered in their context. An interpretation of words that renders the law in question futile is a false interpretation. When words are in the future tense, and even when they are in the imperative mood regarding the judge, but not regarding the crime, the penalty is understood to be incurred not ipso facto but only upon judicial sentence. When words are doubtful they must be presumed to favor the subjects thereof and not the legislator.

## Magisterial doctrine on canonical interpretation "within the Church"

The instructions of the Magisterium regarding canon law and its interpretation are binding per se insofar as it teaches of the law.[11] The juridically binding instructions on canonical interpretation of the Magisterium are primarily given in the allocutions of the Supreme Pontiffs to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota.[11]

Pope Benedict XVI, in his address of 21 January 2012 to the Roman Rota, taught that canonical law can only be interpreted and fully understood within the Catholic Church in the light of her mission and ecclesiological structure, and that "the work of the interpreter must not be deprived of 'vital contact with ecclesial reality":[11]

> All things considered, the hermeneutics of canonical laws is most closely tied to the very understanding of the law of the Church....In such realistic prospectiveness, the interpretative undertaking, at times arduous, takes on meaning and purpose. The use of the interpretive meaning foreseen by the Code of Canon Law in can. 17, beginning with "the proper meaning of the words considered in their text and context", is no longer a mere logical exercise. It has to do with an assignment that is vivified by an authentic contact with the comprehensive reality of the Church, which allows one to penetrate the true meaning of the letter of the law. Something then occurs, similar to what I said about the inner process of St Augustine in biblical hermeneutics: "the transcending of the letter has rendered the letter itself credible".[note 1] In such a manner, also in the hermeneutics of the law is it confirmed that the authentic horizon is that of the juridical truth to love, to seek out and to serve. It follows that the interpretation of canonical law must take place within the Church. This is not a matter of mere external circumstance, subject to the environs: it is a calling to the same humus of Canon Law and the reality regulated by it. Sentire cum Ecclesia takes on meaning also within the discipline, by reason of the doctrinal foundations that are always present and operative within the legal norms of the Church. In this manner, is also applied to Canon Law that hermeneutics of renewal in continuity of which I spoke in reference to the Second Vatican Council[note 2] so closely bound to the current canonical legislation. Christian maturity leads one to love the law ever more and want to understand it and to apply it faithfully.[11]

## References

1. ↑ Canon L. Socy. Gr. Brit. & Ir., The Canon Law Letter and Spirit: A Practical Guide to the Code of Canon Law ¶ 46, at 15, 15 n. 2 (Gerard Sheehy et al. eds., Liturgical Press 1995).
2. ↑ Codex Iuris Canonici (CIC), Canon 16, §1; Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium (CCEO), Canon 1498.
3. ↑ The Canon Law Letter and Spirit, ¶ 46, at 15 (Rev. Augustine Mendonça, JCD).
4. ↑ CIC, Canon 16, §3; CCEO, Canon 1498, §3.
5. ↑ CIC, Canon 16, §2, translated in The Canon Law Letter and Spirit 16 ("Interpretatio authentica per modum legis exhibita eandem vim habet ac lex ipsa et promulgari debet; si verba legis in se certa declaret tantum, valet retrorsum; si legem coarctet vel extendataut dubiam explicet, non retrotrahitur.").
6. ↑ CIC, Canon 16, §1; CCEO, Canon 1498, §1.
7. ↑ Pope John Paul II, apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus, Article 155, 80 Acta Apostolicae Sedis 841 (1988).
8. ↑ Caparros, et al., p. 1629
9. ↑ Caparros, et al., p. 1633.
10. ↑ C. Cum Dilecti, 6 de donat.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Pope Benedict XVI, 2012 Roman Rota Address.

### Notes

1. ↑ Benedict XVI, 2012 Roman Rota Address, citing Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, 30 September 2010, 38: AAS 102 (2010), p. 718, n. 38.
2. ↑ Benedict XVI, 2012 Roman Rota Address, citing his Discourse to the Roman Curia of 22 December 2005: AAS 98 (2006), pp. 40-53., https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2005/december/documents/hf_ben_xvi_spe_20051222_roman-curia.html

## Bibliography

* New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, ed. by John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, and Thomas J. Green, Paulist Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-8091-0502-1 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-8091-4066-4 (paperback, 2002).
* Code of Canon Law Annotated, second English edition, ed. by Ernest Caparros, Michel Thériault, and Jean Thorn, 2004. ISBN 978-2-89127-629-0 (Wilson and Lafleur), ISBN 978-1-890177-44-7 (Midwest Theological Forum).
* Lawrence G. Wrenn, Authentic Interpretations on the 1983 Code, Canon Law Society of America, 1993. ISBN 978-0-943616-61-2.
* Pope Benedict XVI, Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI for the Inauguration of the Judicial Year of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, 21 January 2012, https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2012/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20120121_rota-romana.html, accessed 29 March 2016.

Attribution

* This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Words (in Canon Law)". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. The entry cites:
* Ethelred Taunton, The Law of the Church (London, 1906), s.v.;
* Lucius Ferraris, Bibl. Can., 5 (Rome, 1889), s.v. Lex.

## External links

* 1983 Code of Canon Law for the Latin Rite (CIC)
* 1990 Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Rites (CCEO)
* Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, June 28, 1988, by Pope John Paul II
* Interpretationes Authenticae, Latin text of authentic interpretations through 1998, on Vatican website
* English translation of authentic interpretations, from a 2000 canon law course at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio

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