RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Jurisdiction, Ecclesiastical
sexes, the infliction of physical suffering, cruel penance, exhausting tests of physical endurance, and lewd assemblies, and acts which constitute a disturbance of the public peace. All such acts on the part of religious bodies bring about the intervention of the civil power. No argument based upon any assumed sanction of revealed religion will validate such acts. Within these well-defined limits the churches may exercise a complete and detailed jurisdiction over their members. They can bring members to trial for violations of discipline and for acts and modes of life contrary to the principles of their faith. They are at liberty to prescribe the rules by which their courts shall be organized and the procedure of trials. Such courts are under legal obligation to proceed according to the law of the body that created them, and should they not live up to their own law, their decisions can be set aside by the civil courts.
The discipline that can be meted out to church
members upon the findings of church courts may
extend only (1) to admonition, (2) sus-
5. Legal pension of privileges, (3) penance, Aspects of (4) excommunication, and (5) expul- Discipline. sion from membership. If the church
law provides for an appeal to a higher judicatory, such an appeal may not be refused by the trial court. If an appeal be refused, the higher judicatories may be compelled by the civil courts to entertain it. If the decision of a church court affects the civil rights as well as the ecclesiastical relations of a church member, so much of the decision as relates to the civil rights will be regarded by the civil courts as null and void, while due effect will be given to so much of the decision as affects purely ecclesiastical relations. Where membership in a particular congregation carries with it the right of sepulture in a certain ground, the loss of membership will result in the loss of that right, as the civil courts have held that such a right is a privilege that can be lost with membership. Marriage, the annulment of marriage, and divorce are now matters within the exclusive jurisdiction of the civil courts, so that church discipline in relation to these matters is entirely without legal effect and can affect only the ecclesiastical standings of the parties.
In general the same principles govern the jurisdiction that the churches exercise over their ministers and other officials. Here the
6. Rela- modern jurisdiction is in deepest contions of trast with that of the medieval Church.
Churches From the standpoint of civil law the and holding of ecclesiastical office is en- Officers, tirely a voluntary matter, no perpetual tenure or obligation being possible. Any ecclesiastical office may be renounced at any time without incurring civil disabilities. One who accepts office in a religious body voluntarily assumes the obligation to obey the rules of that body not only in all matters pertaining to his office but also as to the mode of life required of him. Under the principles of modern ecclesiastical jurisdiction church office is not a civil right, put is in the nature of a vested interest to be enjoyed upon a certain tenure. In several ways the VI.— 18
State recognizes the ministry of the churches. Ordained ministers and priests are among those authorized by the State to perform the marriage ceremony, and such church officials are exempt from jury duty and from enforced military service. The civil courts will entertain the case of a church official when deprived of his office in any other manner than according to the law of the organization to which he belongs. The deposed official can appeal to the civil courts for restitution and can compel the church authorities to grant him a trial according to the law of the body. If, however, he has been duly tried and properly deprived of his office, he has no redress in the civil courts, as he has not been deprived of a civil right and his relation to his church was not contractual. Although the discipline of a church body may require that its ordained ministers refrain from secular employment as means of livelihood, an ordained minister or priest has no claim on his church or superior officials for support unless such a claim is specifically recognized by the law of the church. The penalties which may be prescribed by the judgment of an ecclesiastical court rendered against an official are: (1) censure, (2) the temporary suspension of the right to exercise the functions of his office, (3) deprivation of his office, and (4) expulsion from church membership. No financial penalties can be inflicted nor can the defendant be compelled to share the costs of trial. The church courts have no power to compel the attendance of witnesses, but they can compel, with the aid of the civil courts, the production of books and papers in the custody of those over whom they have jurisdiction. The proceedings of ecclesiastical courts need not be made public, but in the event of testimony being given in public or such testimony being subsequently published and proved false on material points, such testimony may constitute libel and an action will lie for damages for defamation of character.
When there is controversy as to the person entitled to a church office, the civil courts will not take the initiative, but if a proper action can be planned involving the title to property, especially in the case of church trustees, the civil courts will take cognizance of the matter collaterally. Such matters come within the equity jurisdiction of the civil courts. The methods employed by the civil courts when they intervene in ecclesiastical matters are usually the issue of writs of mandamus directed to the ecclesiastical authorities compelling certain action, or the issue of writs of injunction restraining certain proposed action. In case a deposed church official has had in his possession funds belonging to the organization, an action for an accounting will lie in the same manner as against any civil treasurer or trustee.
George James Bayles. Bibliography: For the early Church consult: Bingham, Origines, II., iv.-vii.; J. Fulton, Index canonum; Greek text and Eng. transl. and Complete Digest of the . . Code of Canon Law of the primitive Church, New York,
1883.
For the Roman Catholic Church consult: Corpus juris canonici, ed. A. L. Richter and A. Friedberg, Leipsic, 1879 (best edition); E. Friedberg, De flnium inter ecclesiam et civitatem regundorum judicio, Leipsic, 1861; W.
Jurisdiction, Ecclesiastical Justification