TITLE VI: THE CESSATION OF PENALTIES (Cann. 1354 - 1363)

Can. 1354 §1 Besides those who are enumerated in cann. 1355 - 56, all who can dispense from a law which is supported by a penalty, can also remit the penalty itself.

§2 Moreover, a law or precept which establishes a penalty can also grant to others the power of remitting the penalty.

§3 If the Apostolic See has reserved the remission of a penalty to itself or to others, the reservation is to be strictly interpreted.

Can. 1355 §1 Provided it is not reserved to the Apostolic See, a penalty which is established by law and has been imposed or declared, can be remitted by the following:

1° the Ordinary who initiated the judicial proceedings to impose or declare the penalty, or who by a decree, either personally or through another, imposed or declared it;

2° the Ordinary of the place where the offender actually is, after consulting the Ordinary mentioned in n. 1, unless because of extraordinary circumstances this is impossible.

§2 Provided it is not reserved to the Apostolic See, a latae sententiae penalty established by law but not yet declared, can be remitted by the Ordinary in respect of his subjects and of those actually in his territory or of those who committed the offence in his territory. Moreover, any Bishop can do this, but only in the course of sacramental confession.

Can. 1356 §1 A ferendae or a latae sententiae penalty established in a precept not issued by the Apostolic See, can be remitted by the following:

1° the Ordinary of the place where the offender actually is;

2° if the penalty has been imposed or declared, the Ordinary who initiated the judicial proceedings to impose or declare the penalty, or who by a decree, either personally or through another, imposed or declared it.

§2 Before the remission is granted, the author of the precept is to be consulted, unless because of extraordinary circumstance this is impossible.

Can. 1357 §1 Without prejudice to the provisions of cann. 508 and 976, a confessor can in the internal sacramental forum remit a latae sententiae censure of excommunication or interdict which has not been declared, if it is difficult for the penitent to remain in a state of grave sin for the time necessary for the competent Superior to provide.

§2 In granting the remission, the confessor is to impose upon the penitent, under pain of again incurring the censure, the obligation to have recourse within one month to the competent Superior or to a priest having the requisite faculty, and to abide by his instructions. In the meantime, the confessor is to impose an appropriate penance and, to the extent demanded, to require reparation of scandal and damage. The recourse, however, may be made even through the confessor, without mention of a name.

§3 The same duty of recourse, when they have recovered, binds those who in accordance with Can. 976 have had remitted an imposed or declared censure or one reserved to the Holy See.

Can. 1358 §1 The remission of a censure cannot be granted except to an offender whose contempt has been purged in accordance with Can. 1347 §2. However, once the contempt has been purged, the remission cannot be refused.

§2 The one who remits a censure can make provision in accordance with Can. 1348, and can also impose a penance.

Can. 1359 If one is bound by a number of penalties, a remission is valid only for those penalties expressed in it. A general remission, however, removes all penalties, except those which in the petition have been concealed in bad faith.

Can. 1360 The remission of a penalty extorted by grave fear is invalid

Can. 1361 §1 A remission can be granted even to a person who is not present, or conditionally.

§2 A remission in the external forum is to be granted in writing, unless a grave reason suggests otherwise.

§3 Care is to be taken that the petition for remission or the remission itself is not made public, except insofar as this would either be useful for the protection of the good name of the offender, or be necessary to repair scandal.

Can. 1362 §1 A criminal action is extinguished by prescription after three years, except for:

1° offences reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;

2° an action arising from any of the offences mentioned in cann. 1394, 1395, 1397, 1398, which is extinguished after five years;

3° offences not punished by the universal law, where a particular law has prescribed a different period of prescription.

§2 Prescription runs from the day the offence was committed or, if the offence was enduring or habitual, from the day it ceased.

Can. 1363 §1 An action to execute a penalty is extinguished by prescription if the judge's decree of execution mentioned in Can. 1651 was not notified to the offender within the periods mentioned in Can. 1362; these periods are to be reckoned from the day the condemnatory judgement became an adjudged matter.

§2 The same applies, with the necessary adjustments, if the penalty was imposed by an extra-judicial decree.