TITLE VIII: POWER OF GOVERNANCE (Cann. 129 - 144)

§2 Lay members of Christ's faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this same power in accordance with the law.

§2 Ordinary power of governance may be proper or vicarious.

§3 One who claims to have been delegated has the onus of proving the delegation.

§2 However, unless the grant has expressly provided otherwise, or the Ordinary was deliberately chosen as the only one to exercise the faculty, an habitual faculty granted to an Ordinary does not lapse on the expiry of the authority of the Ordinary to whom it was given, even if he has already begun to exercise the faculty, but it passes to the Ordinary who succeeds him in governance.

§2 A delegate is not considered to have exceeded the mandate when what was delegated is carried out, but in a manner different to that determined in the mandate, unless the manner was prescribed for validity by the delegating authority.

§2 The term local Ordinary means all those enumerated in §1, except Superiors of religious institutes and of societies of apostolic life.

§3 Whatever in the canons, in the context of executive power, is attributed to the diocesan Bishop, is understood to belong only to the diocesan Bishop and to those others in can. 381 §2 who are equivalent to him, to the exclusion of the Vicar general and the episcopal Vicar except by special mandate.

§2 Legislative power is to be exercised in the manner prescribed by law; that which in the Church a legislator lower than the supreme authority has cannot be delegated, unless the law explicitly provides otherwise. A lower legislator cannot validly make a law which is contrary to that of a higher legislator.

§3 Judicial power, which is possessed by judges and judicial colleges, is to be exercised in the manner prescribed by law, and it cannot be delegated except for the performance of acts preparatory to some decree or judgement.

§4 As far as the exercise of executive power is concerned, the provisions of the following canons are to be observed.

§2 Executive power delegated by the Apostolic See can be subdelegated, either for an individual case or for all cases, unless the delegation was deliberately given to the individual alone, or unless subdelegation was expressly prohibited.

§3 Executive power delegated by another authority having ordinary power, if delegated for all cases, can be subdelegated only for individual cases; if delegated for a determinate act or acts, it cannot be subdelegated, except by the express grant of the person delegating.

§4 No subdelegated power can again be subdelegated, unless this was expressly granted by the person delegating.

§2 A lower authority, however, is not to interfere in cases referred to higher authority, except for a grave and urgent reason; in which case the higher authority is to be notified immediately.

§2 When several people are delegated to act as a college in a certain matter, all must proceed in accordance with can. 119, unless the mandate provides otherwise.

§3 Executive power delegated to several people is presumed to be delegated to them together.

§2 An act of delegated power exercised for the internal forum only, which is inadvertently performed after the time limit of the delegation, is valid.

§2 Unless the law provides otherwise, ordinary power is suspended if an appeal or a recourse is lawfully made against a deprivation of, or removal from, office.

§2 The same norm applies to the faculties mentioned in cann. 883, 966, and 1111 §1.