church law
Religious legal code
Church law is the body of rules and regulations governing a religious organization's internal affairs—doctrine, discipline, clergy conduct, marriage, and property.
In Christianity, canon law (especially Roman Catholic) is the most developed system.
Church law may interact with civil law but operates as a separate jurisdiction within religious institutions.
- excommunicationFormal barring from sacraments
- dispensationOfficial permission to skip rules
- canonAccepted authoritative works
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- annulmentDeclared void from start
diocese · penance · consistory · synod · curia · indulgence · sacrament · last rites · creed · bishopric · catechism · confession · mortal sin · heresy trial · presbytery · celibacy · episcopacy · papal
- canon lawcanonist, tribunal, canons, canonists, codes
- church lawpapal bull, papal bulls, papal decree, papal authority, papal infallibility
- CatholicismVatican, cardinals, pope, Holy Communion, popes
- church authoritypapacy, bishops, papal authority, popes, papal supremacy
- church-stateseparation, establishment clause, religious accommodation, state religion, religious establishment
- legal historylegal history, Roman jurisprudence, codification, legal codes, criminal codes
religious vs. secular authority
church lawsecular law
Legal code without religious basis
civil law · state law · common law · constitutional law · statutory law