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“Nihil humani a me alienum puto”: the Importance and Topicality of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law at Public Universities

Presentation by Prof. Stefano Testa Bappenheim, PhD

            There are some who believe that ecclesiastical and canon law are antiquities that need to be stored in the attic or in a museum in the best case. They also claim that study programmes at faculties of law should be focused more on techno-economic teachings, which are largely professionalising and practical, and thus more utilitarian. On the other they believe that ecclesiastical and canon law should be described as purely vacuous historical-humanistic entertainment, whose purpose is merely intellectual curiosity.

            In reality, it is completely the opposite. They are two fields of law of great importance and practical professional utility. In primis, ecclesiastical law is not a law of some church or religious community. Rather, it is a state law, to which the system of social and religious occurrences that are in every state reflected in various confessional denominations.

            Today, each state gradually accepts and increasing number of people from other parts of the world who belong to other (different) religions. The European legal systems are designed to govern state mechanism and approach of the state with regard to religious freedom needs that arise from the historical and cultural roots of Europe. Those systems must now face new need, new requirements and new problems, as demonstrated by the large number of various petitions to the European Court of Human Rights, particularly from almost all of the countries that acceded to the Convention. This is mostly due to alleged breaches of article 9, relating to the protection of religious freedoms (see Articles 4 and 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia). However, apart form the traditional ones, it now occurs in completely new areas such as the areas of labour, freedom of speech etc.

            To respond to the above situations requires the ability to touch upon and imbue the rights of religious community – or religious rights – with the legal matter that belongs to the state: the subject matter is thus not restricted to studying that would be limited to the historical foundation and influences from the Roman law, and which are reflected in canon law, therefore also in civil law. It is something completely different, which requires an analytical approach, precision, study of details that concern individual provisions of religious rules that need not necessarily be linked to the state or any state law, all in order to understand the interaction between law and politics, but also the contents, nature, purpose and characteristics of ecclesiastical law.

            Secondly, the importance of canon law is seen especially in the matrimonial area: Article 13 of the Agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Croatia on Legal Matters of 19 December 1996 provides that canon-law marriage shall, from the moment of its conclusion, shall have civil-law effects in accordance with the Croatian legislation, and that decisions of ecclesiastical courts on the nullity of marriage and decisions of the supreme ecclesiastical authority on the dissolution of marriage shall be equally binding for the State. In that sense, Article 22 of the Family Law is also relevant.

            It is, therefore, clear that it is necessary to know canon law in order to be able to understand situations of nullification of canon-law marriage and decisions of the competent authority on the dissolution of marriage. Those are the areas for those who study law with the aim of becoming lawyers as the subject matter falls under matrimonial and family law, which is interesting in the professional sense as it can result in many pleasures. Naturally, all provided that the latest changes adopted by the Roman Pontiff are taken into account. The law in this area is very complex and requires competent experts who have passed university examinations in Canon Law.

Key words: canon law, ecclesiastical law, state law, faculty of law, public universities