An ordinance or ecclesiastical ordinance is a type of law, legal instrument, or by-law in the canon law of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and in Calvinism.
Each Christian denomination that has a hierarchy tends to need rules and regulations that define the rights, privileges, powers, and responsibilities of each individual cleric (such as deacon, priest or pastor, bishop, cardinal, abbot, abbess, or religious like nuns and monks) and corporate bodies (vestry, canons, chapter house, diocese, College of Cardinals, etc.).
A religious organization with a flat organizational structure or no hierarchy tends not to have ecclesiastical ordinances.
[citation needed] Jus novum (c. 1140-1563) Jus novissimum (c. 1563-1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of the faithful Pars dynamica (trial procedure) Canonization Election of the Roman Pontiff Academic degrees Journals and Professional Societies Faculties of canon law Canonists Institute of consecrated life Society of apostolic life In the canon law of the Catholic Church, ecclesiastical ordinances are particular laws, issued in order to fulfil universal law on a local or regional level.
[1][2] Ecclesiastical Ordinances is the title of the foundation rules, or constitution, of the Reformed Church in Geneva, written by John Calvin in 1541.