Title XI. The Execution of the Sentence(Cann. 1650 - 1655)

Can. 1650 §1. A sentence that has become a res iudicata can be executed, without prejudice to the prescript of can.

1647.

§2. The judge who rendered the sentence and, if an appeal has been proposed, also the appellate judge can

order ex officio or at the request of a party a provisional execution of a sentence which has not yet become res

iudicata, after having set suitable guarantees, if the case warrants, for provisions or payments ordered for necessary

support; they can also do so if some other just cause urges it.

§3. If the sentence mentioned in §2 is challenged, the judge who must investigate the challenge can suspend

the execution or subject it to a guarantee if the judge sees that the challenge is probably well founded and

irreparable damage can arise from execution.

Can. 1651 Execution cannot occur prior to the executory decree of the judge which declares that the sentence must

be executed. This decree is to be included in the text of the sentence or issued separately according to the particular

nature of the cases.

Can. 1652 If the execution of a sentence requires a prior rendering of accounts, it is an incidental question which

the same judge who rendered the sentence ordering the execution must decide.

Can. 1653 §1. Unless particular law establishes otherwise, the bishop of the diocese in which the sentence was

rendered in the first grade must execute the sentence personally or through another.

§2. If he refuses or neglects to do this, the execution of the sentence, either at the request of an interested

party or even ex officio, pertains to the authority to whom the appellate tribunal is subject according to the norm

of can. 1439, §3.

§3. Among religious the execution of the sentence pertains to the superior who rendered the sentence to be

executed or the superior who delegated the judge.

Can. 1654 §1. Unless the text of the sentence leaves it to the judgment of the executor, the executor must execute

the sentence according to the obvious sense of the words.

§2. The executor is permitted to deal with exceptions concerning the manner and force of the execution but

not concerning the merit of the case. If it is discovered from another source that the sentence is null or manifestly

unjust according to the norm of cann. 1620, 1622, and 1645, the executor is to refrain from executing it and, after

having informed the parties, is to refer the matter to the tribunal which rendered the sentence.

Can. 1655 §1. In real actions, whenever the petitioner is awarded something, it must be handed over to the

petitioner as soon as there is a res iudicata.

§2. In personal actions, when the guilty party is condemned to furnish a movable thing, to pay money, or to

give or do something else, the judge in the text of the sentence or the executor according to his or her judgment

and prudence is to establish a time limit to fulfill the obligation; this time limit, however, is not to be less than fifteen

days nor more than six months.