1917 Code of Canon Law

Papal attempts at codification of the scattered mass of canon law spanned the eight centuries since Gratian produced his Decretum c. 1150.[6] In the 13th century especially canon law became the object of scientific study, and different compilations were made by the Roman Pontiffs. The most important of these were the five books of the Decretales Gregorii IX and the Liber Sextus of Boniface VIII. The legislation grew with time. Some of it became obsolete, and contradictions crept in so that it became difficult in recent times to discover what was of obligation and where to find the law on a particular question.

Pope Pius X, who ordered the codification of canon law in 1904

Since the close of the Corpus Juris, numerous new laws and decrees had been issued by popes, councils, and Roman Congregations. No complete collection of them had ever been published and they remained scattered through the ponderous volumes of the "Bullaria" the Acta Sanctae Sedis, and other such compilations, which were accessible to only a few and for professional canonists themselves and formed an unwieldy mass of legal material. Moreover, not a few ordinances, whether included in the ‘’Corpus Juris’’ or of more recent date, appeared to be contradictory; some had been formally abrogated, others had become obsolete by long disuse; others, again, had ceased to be useful or applicable in the present condition of society. Great confusion was thus engendered and correct knowledge of the law rendered very difficult even for those who had to enforce it.[7]

Already in the Council of Trent the wish had been expressed in the name of the King of Portugal that a commission of learned theologians be appointed to make a thorough study of the canonical constitutions binding under pain of mortal sin, define their exact meaning, see whether their obligation should not be restricted in certain cases, and clearly determine how far they were to be maintained and observed.[7]

In response to the request of the bishops at the First Vatican Council,[8] on 14 May 1904, with the motu proprio Arduum sane munus ("A Truly Arduous Task"), Pope Pius X set up a commission to begin reducing these diverse documents into a single code,[9] presenting the normative portion in the form of systematic short canons shorn of the preliminary considerations/[10]

Pietro Cardinal Gasparri, architect of the 1917 Code

Under the aegis of Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law was completed under Benedict XV who promulgated the Code, effective in 1918. The work having been begun by Pius X and promulgated by Benedict XV, it is sometimes called the "Pio-Benedictine Code."[1]

Pope Pius X in a letter on 19 March 1904 announced his intention of revising the unwieldy mass of past legislation and appointed a commission of cardinals and learned consultors to undertake this difficult work. The Catholic universities of the world and the bishops of all countries were asked to cooperate. The scholars began the work and a copy of the first draft was sent to the bishops for suggestions.

In addition to the canon law experts brought to Rome to serve on the codification commission, all the Latin Church's bishops and superiors general of religious orders were periodically consulted via letter. Every Latin bishop had the right to permanently keep a representative in Rome to give him voice at the meetings of the codification commission.[11]

By the winter of 1912, the "whole span of the code" had been completed, so that a provisional text was printed. The 1912 text was sent out to all Latin bishops and superiors general for their comment, and their notations which they sent back to the codification commission were subsequently printed and distributed to all members of the commission, in order that the members might carefully consider the suggestions.[11]

Pope Benedict XV, who promulgated the 1917 Code

The new code was completed in 1916.[12] The code was promulgated on 27 May 1917,[13] Pentecost Sunday,[14] as the Code of Canon Law (Latin: Codex Iuris Canonici) by Pius' successor, Pope Benedict XV, who set 19 May 1918[13] as the date on which it came into force.[15] For the most part, it applied only to the Latin Church except when "it treats of things that, by their nature, apply to the Oriental",[16] such as the effects of baptism (canon 87). It contained 2,414 canons.[17]

On 15 September 1917, by the motu proprio Cum Iuris Canonici,[18] Pope Benedict XV made provision for a Pontifical Commission charged with interpreting the code and making any necessary modifications as later legislation was issued. New laws would be appended to existing canons in new paragraphs or inserted between canons, repeating the number of the previous canon and adding bis, ter, etc.[19] (e.g. "canon 1567bis" in the style of the civil law) so as not to subvert the ordering of the code, or the existing text of a canon would be completely supplanted. The numbering of the canons was not to be altered.[20]

The Latin text of the 1917 Code remained unchanged for the first 30 years of its enactment, when Pope Pius XII issued a motu proprio of 1 August 1948 that amended canon 1099 of the code, a revision that took effect on 1 January 1949.[21]

The 1917 Code was in force until Canon 6 §1 1° of the 1983 Code of Canon Law[22] took legal effect—thereby abrogating it[1]—on 27 November 1983.[4]

On 15 September 1917, shortly after promulgating the 1917 code, Benedict XV promulgated the motu proprio Cum Iuris Canonici, which forbade the Roman Congregations from issuing new general decrees unless it was necessary to do so, and then only after consulting the Pontifical Commission charged with amending the code. The congregations were instead to issue Instructions on the canons of the code, and to make it clear that they were elucidating particular canons of the code.[23] This was done so as not to make the code obsolete soon after it was promulgated. The 1917 Code was very rarely amended, and then only slightly.[24]

• Ayrinhac, Very Rev. H. A., S.S., D.D., D.C.L., General Legislation in the New Code of Canon Law: General Norms. (Can. 1-86.) Ecclesiastical Persons in General. (Can. 87-214.) (New York: Blase Benziger & Co., Inc., 1923).
• Caparros, Ernest, et al., 1983 Code of Canon Law Annotated "Gratianus Series", 2nd edition (Woodridge: Midwest Theological Forum, 2004).
• Della Rocca, Fernando. Manual of Canon Law (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1959). Rev. Anselm Thatcher, O.S.B. (translator).
• La Due, William J., J.C.D.: The Chair of Saint Peter: A History of the Papacy (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999).
• Metz, René. What is Canon Law? (New York: Hawthorn Books/Publishers, 1960). Michael Derrick (translator of the French original).
• Peters, Edward N. (translator), The 1917 or Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law: in English Translation with Extensive Scholarly Apparatus (Ignatius Press, 2001).
• Peters, Walter H. The Life of Benedict XV (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1959).
• The Future of Canon Law Concilium vol. 48 (Paulist, 1st Edition, 1969).
• This article incorporates text from the 1910 version of the New Catholic Dictionary article "Canon law, new code of", a publication now in the public domain.