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BOOK VI - Penal Sanctions in the Church

• The fifth principle for the revision of the Code expressed a desire for greater subsidiarity and a healthy decentralization of ecclesiastical authority.  How was this reversed in subsequent legislation?  (See Preface, Sacrae Disciplinae Leges, January 25, 1983; Historical Introduction, Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, 2001; Preface, Pascite Gregem Dei, 2021.)
• The third principle for the revision of the Code called for a pastoral approach to canon law with due regard to charity, avoiding unduly rigid norms.  How was this "pastoral attitude" described in subsequent legislation?  (See Preface, Sacrae Disciplinae Leges, January 25, 1983; Preface, Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, 2001; Preface, Pascite Gregem Dei, 2021.)
• The ninth principle for the revision of the Code expressed a desire to reduce the number of latae sententiae penalties in the Code.  Give an example of a new latae sententiae or ipso facto penalty that has been added (c. 1379 §3 and 1388 §2.)
  
  Part I.  Delicts and Penalties in General
  

  Title I.  The Punishment of Delicts in General (cc. 1311-1312)

• What innate and proper right does the Church have regarding delicts (c. 1311 §1)?  What obligation does one who is head of a Church have regarding the faithful entrusted to him (c. 1311 §2)?
• What are the three motives for imposing or declaring a penalty that a competent ecclesiastical authority should have before his eyes? (c. 1311 §2)?
• Where else are these same three motives mentioned in the code (cc. 1311 §2, 1335 §1, 1341, 1343 and 1345; and as a bonus c. 695 §1)?
• What types of penal sanctions exist in the Code, and what other options are available (c. 1312)?

  Title II.  Penal Law and Penal Precept (cc. 1313-1320)

• What law is applied if a law has been changed?  What happens to a penalty if a law is abolished (c. 1313)?
• What is the difference between a penalty ferendae sententiae and a penalty latae sententiae (c. 1314)?
• What is meant by the term inferior legislator?  What is a facultative penalty, a preceptive penalty, an indeterminate penalty, and a determinate penalty?  How may an inferior legislator add or modify a penalty to a law issued by a higher authority (c. 1315 §2)?
• What should a diocesan bishop take into consideration before issuing a penal law for his territory (c. 1316)?
• What penalty can an inferior legislator not establish in particular law (c. 1317)?
• What penalties should not be threatened except in cases of greater scandal or special gravity (c. 1318)?
• Who can issue a penal precept?  What kinds of penalties cannot be threatened in a penal precept (c. 1319)?
• When can an ordinary threaten a member of a religious institute with a penalty (c. 1320)?

  Title III.  The Subject Liable to Penal Sanctions (cc. 1321-1330)

• What is imputability and how can a person be imputable for a violation of law?  When is imputability presumed (c. 1321)?
• The maxim in civil criminal law is "innocent until proven guilty."  Explain how this principle, expressed in canon 1321 §1 is also found in canon 1608 §4.  What enjoys the favor of law in a canonical criminal trial?
• Who is incapable of a delict in canon law (c. 1322)?
• Give some examples of a person not subject to a penalty, even if they are capable of a delict (c. 1323).
• Give some examples of a person who is subject to a penalty, though the penalty must be tempered (c. 1324).
• Can a person with any of the circumstances described in canons 1322-1324 incur a latae sententiae penalty (c. 1324 §3)?
• What is crass, supine, or affected ignorance (c. 1325)?
• Give some examples of cases in which a judge may impose a harsher penalty than established in law or precept (c. 1326).
• What is to be done when a person, with premeditation and full consent of will, intends to commit a delict, but the circumstances prevent the delict from being carried out (c. 1328)?
• What is to be done with an accomplice to a delict or with a person who conspires with another to commit a delict (c. 1329)?
• What is to be done with a heretic who denies a dogma of the Church, but who never expresses his or her denial to another person (c. 1330)?

  Title IV.  Penalties and Other Punishments

  Chapter I.  Censures (c. 1331-1335)

• What three types of censures are mentioned in this chapter (cc. 1331-1333)?
• Name some things that are forbidden to an excommunicated person (c. 1331 §1).
• Who is bound by 1331 §1, but not by canon 1331 §2 (i.e., a person who is excommunicated, but when no ferendae sententiae excommunication has been imposed, and when no latae sententiae excommunication has been declared)?
• Name some things forbidden to an interdicted person (c. 1332 §1).
• Name some of the things that can be forbidden to a suspended person (c. 1333 §1).
• What can a suspension not affect (c. 1333 §3)?
• How are the limits of a suspension determined?  If a penal law threatens a latae sententiae suspension without further specification, what are the limits of the suspension (c. 1334)?
• What other penalties can be added to a censure (c. 1335 §1)?
• Under what circumstances are the restrictions of a censure suspended (c. 1335 §2)?

  Chapter II.  Expiatory Penalties (c. 1336-1338)

• For what length of time may an expiatory penalty affect a person who has committed a delict (c. 1336 §1)?
• Give some examples of expiatory penalties that are orders, prohibitions, or privations (c. 1336 §§2-4)?
• What is the most serious expiatory penalty mentioned at the end of canon 1336 (c. 1336 §5)?
• What limits are established on the ordinary's authority to order residence in a certain place (c. 1337)?
• What are some things that are not affected by an expiatory penalty (c. 1338 §1)?  What are some things of which a person cannot be deprived (c. 1338 §2)?

  Chapter III.  Penal Remedies and Penances (cc. 1339-1340)

• What is a canonical warning (c. 1339 §1)?  What is a canonical rebuke (c. 1339 §2)?  What is subjection to vigilance (c. 1339 §5)?
• What is a canonical penance and when may it be imposed (c. 1340)?

  Title V.  The Application of Penalties (cc. 1341-1353)

• What two types of processes can an ordinary initiate to restore justice, reform the offender, and repair scandal (cc. 1341 and 1342 §1)?
• In what way does the law limit a penalty imposed by an extrajudicial decree (c. 1342 §2)?
• What are some examples of the flexibility a judge has in imposing penalties?  To temper a penalty that is too severe (c. 1343)?  To defer or abstain from imposing a penalty, or to suspend the obligation to observe a penalty in certain cases (c. 1344)?  When the offender is not fully imputable for some reason (c. 1345)?  When several penalties are to be imposed for the commission of several delicts (c. 1346)?
• What prerequisite must be met before imposing a censure (c. 1347)?
• Even if the accused is acquitted of the commission of a delict, what disciplinary options does the ordinary have if the case warrants (c. 1348)?
• If a delict threatens an indeterminate penalty, what kind of penalties cannot be imposed by the judge (c. 1349)?
• When a cleric is punished, what rights must still be provided for him?  What is owed to a cleric who is dismissed from the clerical state (c. 1350)?
• What does it mean to say that an imposed penalty is not territorially limited (c. 1351)?
• What are some circumstances in which the obligation to observe a penalty may be suspended (c. 1352)?
• What is the effect of appealing the sentence in a judicial process or taking recourse against a decree in an extrajudicial process (c. 1353)?

  Title VI.  The Remission of Penalties and the Prescription of Actions (c. 1354-1363)

• Who can remit a penalty (c. 1354)?  What if the penalty established by law has been declared or imposed?  What if a latae sententiae penalty established by law has not been declared (c. 1355)?  What if a penalty has been established by precept (c. 1356)?
• What power does a confessor have to remit a censure and what are the limits of his authority (c. 1357)?
• What prerequisite is necessary to remit a censure?  When can the remission of a censure not be denied (c. 1358)?
• If several penalties bind a person, is a remission automatically valid for all penalties (c. 1359)?
• In what circumstances does the law itself invalidate the remission of a penalty (c. 1360)?
• Can a condition be attached to the remission of a penalty?  Can a remission be given verbally?  Can a remission be made publicly known?  Can a remission be delayed if the offender is repentant (c. 1361)?
• What time periods can apply after which criminal action is extinguished by prescription?  What are some examples of each time limit?  When does the period of prescription begin (c. 1362)?
• Is prescription indefinitely suspended by the citation of the accused (c. 1362 §3)?
• How does prescription extinguish the action to execute a penalty after it has been imposed (c. 1363)?

  Part II.  Particular Delicts and their Penalties
  

• What delicts have attached latae sententiae penalties (cc. 1364 §1, 1370 §§1 and 2, 1379 §§1 and 3, 1382 §1, 1384, 1386 §1, 1387, 1390 §1, 1394 §§1 and 2, and 1397 §2)?
• What delicts have an attached ipso facto penalty (c. 1388 §§1 and 2)?
• What delicts may bring about dismissal from the clerical state (cc. 1364, 1370 §1, 1379 §3, 1382 §§1 and 2, 1385, 1386 §3, 1392, 1394 §1, 1395 §§1-3, 1397 and 1398 §1)?
• What delicts have facultative penalties as opposed to preceptive penalties (c. 1399 only)?
• What is meant by the terms punitur, puniatur, punire debet, and puniri potest?

  Title I.  Delicts against the Faith and the Unity of the Church (c. 1364-1369)

• What consequences may apply to a person who has defected from the faith, observing both Book VI and the rest of the code (c. 1364 §1 and 194 §1, n. 2)?
• What penalties can apply to a person who denies a teaching of the Church mentioned in canon 750 §1 as opposed to canon 750 §2 (cc. 1364 and 1365)?
• Explain the relationship between canon 1366 and canon 336.
• Explain the relationship between canon 1368 and canon 831.

  Title II.  Delicts against Ecclesiastical Authority and the Exercise of Duties (c. 1370-1378)

• What prerequisite is required before punishing a person for the delict of disobedience (c. 1371 §1, 1347 §1)?  Is this the same for a religious (cc. 696-697)?
• Give an example of a person who can be punished for failing to execute an executive sentence or executive decree (c. 1371 §5)?  Give an example of a person who is bound to report a delict (c. 1371 §6; Vos Estis Lux Mundi; Come Una Madre Amorevole).
• How is canon 1376 §§1 and 2 related to canon 1378 §§1 and 2?
• A person is generally punished for delicts committed with malice, but for delicts committed by omission due to negligence (c. 1321 §3).  Give an example of a delict in which a person may be punished for negligence (cc. 1371 §6, 1376 §2 and 1378 §2).
• Give an example of a delict for which the accused may be obligated to repair the harm caused by his action or inaction (c. 1376 §§1 and 2, 1377 §§1 and 2, 1378 §§1 and 2, 1390 §3 and 1393 §2)?  Which of these are financial delicts requiring monetary restitution?  Which of these may require a non-monetary form of restitution?

  Title III.  Offences against the Sacraments (cc. 1379-1389)

• What is the difference between canon 1377 §1 and 1380?
• What is the relationship between canon 1377 §2 and canon 1383?
• What delict is referred to in canon 1384 (c. 977)?
• What are some delicts that are related to the Eucharist (cc. 1379 §1, n. 1, 1381, 1382 §§1 and 2)?
• What are some delicts that are related to the sacrament of confession (cc. 1379 §1, n. 2, 1384, 1385, 1386 §§1-3)?
• What are some delicts that are related to the sacrament of orders (cc. 1379 §3, 1387, 1388 §§1 and 2)?

  Title IV.  Offences against Good Reputation and the Delict of Falsehood (cc. 1390-1391)

• Distinguish between the documents mentioned in canon 1391, n. 1, n. 2, and n. 3.

  Title V.  Delicts against Special Obligations (cc. 1392-1396)

• What is the difference between canon 1394 and canon 1395?
• Give an example of an office that entails the obligation of residence mentioned in canon 1396 (cc. 395 §1, 410, 429, 533 §1, 543 §2, 550 §1, 629 but not 283 §1)?

  Title VI.  Delicts against Human Life, Dignity and Liberty (cc. 1397-1398)

• Who may be subject to a penalty under canon 1394 §1, canon 1394 §2, canon 1395, canon 1398 §1, and canon 1398 §2?  

  Title VII.  General Norm (c. 1399)

• Canon 1399 allows violations of the law to be punished even when an express penal law does not exist.  What conditions are necessary in order to invoke this canon?

  Other questions

• What document governs the graviora delicta reserved to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith?
• If one of the graviora delicta is discovered that was committed before November 27, 1983, and the DDF dispenses prescription, by what law is the delict judged and what law governs the procedure to be observed?
• What is the significance of discovering that a delict of the sexual abuse of a minor by a cleric was committed in the United States before or after April 25, 1994 (See DDF, Vademecum on certain points of procedure in treating cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by clerics)