Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law

[6]While the term "law" (lex) is never explicitly defined in the 1983 Code,[7] the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites Aquinas in defining law as "...an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community"[8] and reformulates it as "...a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good.

This is proved by Soglia 13 in these words : "Ex defmitione Pufiendorfii, Status est conjunctio plurium hominum, quae imperio per homines administrate, sibi proprio, et aliunde non dependente, continetur.

"[14]The justification of the legal powers of the Catholic Church would now be defended along the lines of the sovereign state's justification for its own legal powers, and the Catholic Church would be considered a concurrent and complementary Communitas Perfecta in the realm of the supernatural end of man to that of the civil sovereign state in the realm of the natural end of man.

[15] Many canonists, in the years preceding the Second Vatican Council, considered the justification and basis for canon law being a true legal system to be that the Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ as a Communitas Perfecta, and as such was a true human society which had the right to make human law.

Any action or omission, therefore, on the part of her members, which hinders her from carrying out her mission or reaching her end, and, consequently, whatever contravenes the regulations made by her concerning the worship of God and the sanctification of her children, is punishable by her.

[16]Fernando della Rocca asserted that it is a "fundamental principle of canon law which insists on the right of the Church as a perfect society,[Note 1] to determine, particularly in the field of legislation, the limits of its own power.

"[17] Even Pope Benedict XV, in his apostolic constitution promulgating the 1917 Code of Canon Law, attributed the legislative authority of the church to it being founded by Jesus Christ with all the requirements for a Communitas Perfecta.

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, in his address of 21 January 2012 before the Roman Rota, taught that canonical laws can only be interpreted and fully understood within the Catholic Church in the light of her mission and ecclesiological structure.

"[19] In view of the decision to reform the existing 1983 Code, the Second Vatican Council, in the decree Optatam totius (§16), ordered that "the teaching of canon law [...] should take into account the mystery of the Church, according to the dogmatic constitution De Ecclesia".

[24] Fundamental theory is a newer discipline that takes as is object "the existence and nature of what is juridical in the Church of Jesus Christ.