Showing posts with label Canon Law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canon Law. Show all posts

December 9, 2021

Frías on Vicario (DCH)/ Vicar (DCH)

Susana Frías, Academia Nacional de la Historia (Argentina), has published Vicario (DCH) (Vicar (DCH)) as Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory Research Paper Series No. 1. Here is the abstract.
Spanish Abstract: El artículo repasa las principales acepciones de la voz Vicario en el contexto del derecho canónico en el período hispano-americano, basándose en fuentes de la época. La más frecuente es la de delegado del obispo con funciones ordinarias que éste expresamente le da, pero también se analizan otros oficiales que responden a la voz: los foráneos, los coadjutores y los sufragáneos. Existen, sin embargo, otras acepciones a las que se hará referencia a lo largo de este trabajo: el vicario de Cristo, es decir el Papa; el vicario capitular, nombrado por el Cabildo Eclesiástico; el vicario castrense. La acepción del término en relación con las órdenes religiosas es asimismo significativa para esta voz. Se ha procurado, toda vez que fue posible, ilustrar con ejemplos y datos del contexto hispanoamericano las distintas modalidades, con especial referencia al ámbito rioplatense, que es donde se centran los estudios de la autora. Se procura arrojar luz sobre algunos temas que trascienden la mera descripción de la institución. Entre otros, la tensión entre los prelados y las órdenes religiosas generada en América a partir de la organización administrativa de las diócesis o la pugna de criollos y españoles, tanto en el ámbito diocesano como en el seno de las Órdenes. Un aspecto fundamental es la creciente influencia de la Corona española sobre las instituciones eclesiásticas.

 

English Abstract: The article reviews the main meanings of the word Vicar in the context of canon law during the Spanish-American period, based on sources of the time. The most frequent use is that of the bishop's delegate with ordinary functions expressly granted by the bishop; but for other officials this term was applied as well: the foreigners, coadjutors and suffragans. Other meanings to which reference is made throughout this work are the following: the vicar of Christ, that is, the Pope; the capitular vicar, appointed by the Ecclesiastical Chapter; the military vicar. The meaning of the term in relation to religious orders is also significant for this entry. Whenever possible, the different modalities are illustrated by examples and data from the Hispanic-American context, with special reference to the River Plate area, where the author's studies are focusing on. She has attempted to shed light on some issues that go beyond the mere description of that institution. Among others, the tension between the prelates and the religious orders stemming from the administrative organization of the dioceses in America or the struggle between Creoles and Spaniards both at the diocesan level and within the Orders. A fundamental aspect is the growing influence of the Spanish Crown over ecclesiastical institutions.
Download the article from SSRN at the link.

December 21, 2015

Ross on Prostestants, Catholics, Law, and the Fate of the Soul

Richard J. Ross, University of Illinois College of Law, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of History, has published Binding in Conscience: Early Modern English Protestants and Spanish Thomists on Law and the Fate of the Soul at 33 Law and History Review 803 (2015). Here is the abstract.
Romans 13:5 said that Christians should obey law not only for fear of punishment but “also for conscience sake.” What could this mean in practice? Early modern Protestants and Catholics agreed that violations of laws that bound conscience, if unrepented, threatened damnation. But which types of law bound? Natural and divine moral law did. Human laws presented a complicated case. Disobedience to only certain classes of human laws — but not all — imperiled the soul. Catholics and Protestants debated how to distinguish ordinances that obligated conscience from those that did not. The stakes were considerable. Romans 13:5 multiplied the potency of rulers, who treasured the suggestion that God’s ultimate penalty of damnation reinforced their authority. But a world in which violation of any ordinance brought damnation would be unlivable for subjects. And it would preclude the bargaining about law at the heart of early modern politics. The application of Romans 13:5 necessarily became a dialectical endeavor. Theorists generated arguments to bind conscience and release it. This essay explores the ways in which early modern Spanish Thomists and English Protestants linked human law to the fate of the soul and challenged that connection. They relied heavily on juridical concepts for assessing the validity and meaning of law in order to know which human ordinances obligated conscience under what circumstances. Manipulating borrowed jurists’ categories, they turned Romans 13:5 into a vital system for regulating conduct, with crucial effects in politics and daily life. Seeing Romans 13:5 from this perspective directs attention to the deep and changing intersections of legal and religious thought over a century and a half.
Download the article from SSRN at the link.