CANON 43

Summary. Clerics under no obligation to laymen in matters temporal are not bound to take an oath of fidelity to them.

Text. Some laymen (that is, princes) attempt to usurp too much of the divine right when they compel ecclesiastical persons who are under no obligation to them in matters temporal, to take an oath of fidelity to them. Wherefore, since according to the Apostle, "To the Lord the servant standeth or falleth" (Rom. 14: 4), we forbid by the authority of the sacred council that such clerics be forced by secular persons to take an oath of this kind.