Title VI. Physical and Juridic Persons (Cann. 96 - 123)

CHAPTER I. The Canonical Condition of Physical Persons

Can.96 By baptism one is incorporated into the Church of Christ and is constituted a person in

it with the duties and rights which are proper to Christians in keeping with their condition,

insofar as they are in ecclesiastical communion and unless a legitimately issued sanction stands

in the way.

Can.97 §1. A person who has completed the eighteenth year of age has reached majority; below

this age, a person is a minor.

§2. A minor before the completion of the seventh year is called an infant and is considered

not responsible for oneself (non sui compos). With the completion of the seventh year, however,

a minor is presumed to have the use of reason.

Can.98 §1. A person who has reached majority has the full exercise of his or her rights.

§2. A minor, in the exercise of his or her rights, remains subject to the authority of parents

or guardians except in those matters in which minors are exempted from their authority by divine

law or canon law. In what pertains to the appointment of guardians and their authority, the

prescripts of civil law are to be observed unless canon law provides otherwise or unless in certain

cases the diocesan bishop, for a just cause, has decided to provide for the matter through the

appointment of another guardian.

Can.99 Whoever habitually lacks the use of reason is considered not responsible for oneself (non

sui compos) and is equated with infants.

Can.100 A person is said to be: a resident (incola) in the place where the person has a domicile;

a temporary resident (advena) in the place where the person has a quasi-domicile; a traveler

(peregrinus) if the person is outside the place of a domicile or quasi-domicile which is still

retained; a transient (vagus) if the person does not have a domicile or quasi- domicile anywhere.

Can.101 §1. The place of origin of a child, even of a neophyte, is that in which the parents had

a domicile or, lacking that, a quasi-domicile when the child was born or, if the parents did not

have the same domicile or quasi-domicile, that of the mother.

§2. In the case of a child of transients, the place of origin is the actual place of birth; in the

case of an abandoned child, it is the place where the child was found.

Can.102 §1. Domicile is acquired by that residence within the territory of a certain parish or at

least of a diocese, which either is joined with the intention of remaining there permanently unless

called away or has been protracted for five complete years.

§2. Quasi-domicile is acquired by residence within the territory of a certain parish or at least

of a diocese, which either is joined with the intention of remaining there for at least three months

unless called away or has in fact been protracted for three months.

§3. A domicile or quasi-domicile within the territory of a parish is called parochial; within the

territory of a diocese, even though not within a parish, diocesan.

Can.103 Members of religious institutes and societies of apostolic life acquire a domicile in the

place where the house to which they are attached is located; they acquire a quasi-domicile in the

house where they are residing, according to the norm of can. 102, §2.

Can.104 Spouses are to have a common domicile or quasi-domicile; by reason of legitimate

separation or some other just cause, both can have their own domicile or quasi-domicile.

Can.105 §1. A minor necessarily retains the domicile and quasi-domicile of the one to whose

power the minor is subject. A minor who is no longer an infant can also acquire a quasi-domicile

of one’s own; a minor who is legitimately emancipated according to the norm of civil law can also

acquire a domicile of one’s own.

§2. Whoever for some other reason than minority has been placed legitimately under the

guardianship or care of another has the domicile and quasi-domicile of the guardian or curator.

Can.106 Domicile and quasi-domicile are lost by departure from a place with the intention of not

returning, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 105.

Can.107 §1. Through both domicile and quasi-domicile, each person acquires his or her pastor

and ordinary.

§2. The proper pastor or ordinary of a transient is the pastor or local ordinary where the

transient is actually residing.

§3. The proper pastor of one who has only a diocesan domicile or quasi-domicile is the pastor

of the place where the person is actually residing.

Can.108 §1. Consanguinity is computed through lines and degrees.

§2. In the direct line there are as many degrees as there are generations or persons, not

counting the common ancestor.

§3. In the collateral line there are as many degrees as there are persons in both the lines

together, not counting the common ancestor.

Can.109 §1. Affinity arises from a valid marriage, even if not consummated, and exists between

a man and the blood relatives of the woman and between the woman and the blood relatives of

the man.

§2. It is so computed that those who are blood relatives of the man are related in the same

line and degree by affinity to the woman, and vice versa.

Can.110 Children who have been adopted according to the norm of civil law are considered the

children of the person or persons who have adopted them.

Can.111 §1. Through the reception of baptism, the child of parents who belong to the Latin

Church is enrolled in it, or, if one or the other does not belong to it, both parents have chosen by

mutual agreement to have the offspring baptized in the Latin Church. If there is no mutual

agreement, however, the child is enrolled in the ritual Church to which the father belongs.

§2. Anyone to be baptized who has completed the fourteenth year of age can freely choose

to be baptized in the Latin Church or in another ritual Church sui iuris; in that case, the person

belongs to the Church which he or she has chosen.

Can.112 §1. After the reception of baptism, the following are enrolled in another ritual Church

sui iuris:

1/ a person who has obtained permission from the Apostolic See;

2/ a spouse who, at the time of or during marriage, has declared that he or she is transferring

to the ritual Church sui iuris of the other spouse; when the marriage has ended, however, the

person can freely return to the Latin Church;

3/ before the completion of the fourteenth year of age, the children of those mentioned in

nn. 1 and 2 as well as, in a mixed marriage, the children of the Catholic party who has

legitimately transferred to another ritual Church; on completion of their fourteenth year,

however, they can return to the Latin Church.

§2. The practice, however prolonged, of receiving the sacraments according to the rite of

another ritual Church sui iuris does not entail enrollment in that Church.