CHAPTER I :
THE TRIBUNAL OF FIRST INSTANCE
ARTICLE 1 :
THE JUDGE
Can.
1419 §1 In each diocese and for all cases which are not expressly excepted in
law, the judge of first instance is the diocesan Bishop. He can exercise his
judicial power either personally or through others, in accordance with the
following canons.
§2 If the
case concerns the rights or temporal goods of a juridical person represented by
the Bishop, the appeal tribunal is to judge in first instance.
Can.
1420 §1 Each diocesan Bishop is obliged to appoint a judicial Vicar, or
'Officialis', with ordinary power to judge. The judicial Vicar is to be a
person distinct from the Vicar general, unless the smallness of the diocese or
the limited number of cases suggests otherwise.
§2 The
judicial Vicar constitutes one tribunal with the Bishop, but cannot judge cases
which the Bishop reserves to himself.
§3 The
judicial Vicar can be given assistants, who are called associate judicial
Vicars or 'Vice-officiales'.
§4 The
judicial Vicar and the associate judicial Vicars must be priests of good
repute, with a doctorate or at least a licentiate in canon law, and not less
than thirty years of age.
§5 When the
see is vacant, they do not cease from office, nor can they be removed by the
diocesan Administrator. On the coming of the new Bishop, however, they need to
be confirmed in office.
Can.
1421 §1 In each diocese the Bishop is to appoint diocesan judges, who are to be
clerics.
§2 The
Episcopal Conference can permit that lay persons also be appointed judges.
Where necessity suggests, one of these can be chosen in forming a college of
Judges.
§3 Judges
are to be of good repute, and possess a doctorate, or at least a licentiate, in
canon law.
Can.
1422 The judicial Vicar, the associate judicial Vicars and the other judges are
appointed for a specified period of time, without prejudice to the provision of
can. 1420 §5. They cannot be removed from office except for a lawful and grave
reason.
Can.
1423 §1 With the approval of the Apostolic See, several diocesan Bishops can
agree to establish one tribunal of first instance in their dioceses, in place
of the diocesan tribunals mentioned in cann. 1419 - 1421. In this case the
group of Bishops, or a Bishop designated by them, has all the powers which the
diocesan Bishop has for his tribunal.
§2 The
tribunals mentioned in §1 can be established for all cases, or for some types
of cases only.
Can.
1424 In any trial a sole judge can associate with himself two assessors as
advisers; they may be clerics or lay persons of good repute.
Can.
1425 §1 The following matters are reserved to a collegiate tribunal of three
judges, any contrary custom being reprobated:
1°
contentious cases: a) concerning the bond of sacred ordination; b) concerning
the bond of marriage, without prejudice to the provisions of cann. 1686 and
1688;
2° penal
cases: a) for offences which can carry the penalty of dismissal from the
clerical state; b) concerning the imposition or declaration of an
excommunication.
§2 The
Bishop can entrust the more difficult cases or those of greater importance to
the judgement of three or of five judges.
§3 The
judicial Vicar is to assign judges in order by rotation to hear the individual
cases, unless in particular cases the Bishop has decided otherwise.
§4 In a
trial at first instance, if it should happen that it is impossible to
constitute a college of judges, the Episcopal Conference can for as long as the
impossibility persists, permit the Bishop to entrust cases to a sole clerical
judge. Where possible, the sole judge is to associate with himself an assessor
and an auditor.
§5 Once
judges have been designated, the judicial Vicar is not to replace them, except
for a very grave reason, which must be expressed in a decree.
Can.
1426 §1 A collegiate tribunal must proceed in a collegiate fashion and give its
judgement by majority vote.
§2 As far
as possible, the judicial Vicar or an associate judicial Vicar must preside
over the collegiate tribunal.
Can.
1427 §1 If there is a controversy between religious, or houses of the same
clerical religious institute of pontifical right, the judge at first instance,
unless the constitutions provide otherwise, is the provincial Superior or, if
an autonomous monastery is concerned, the local Abbot.
§2 Without
prejudice to a different provision in the constitutions, when a contentious
matter arises between two provinces, the supreme Moderator, either personally
or through a delegate, will be the judge at first instance. If the controversy
is between two monasteries, the Abbot superior of the monastic congregation
will be the judge.
§3 Finally,
if a controversy arises between physical or juridical persons of different
religious institutes or even of the same clerical institute of diocesan right
or of the same lay institute, or between a religious person and a secular
cleric or a lay person or a non-religious juridical person, it is the diocesan
tribunal which judges at first instance.
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