Title I

A law comes into existence when it is promulgated.

§ 1.

Universal ecclesiastical laws are promulgated by being published in the official commentary Acta Apostolicae Sedis unless (nisi) another form of promulgation is prescribed for individual cases. These laws become effective only after three months have elapsed from the date of that issue of the Acta, unless (nisi) they have binding force immediately from the very nature of the matter they treat or unless the law itself specifically and expressly suspends its force for a shorter or longer period.

§ 2.

Particular laws are promulgated in a manner determined by the legislator, and they begin to bind one month from the date of promulgation, unless (nisi) another time period is determined in the law itself.

Laws deal with the future and not the past, unless (nisi) specific provision be made in the laws concerning the past.

Only those laws which expressly state that an act is null or that a person is incapable of acting are to be considered to be invalidating or incapacitating.

Merely ecclesiastical laws bind those baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it and who enjoy the sufficient use of reason and, unless (nisi) the law expressly provides otherwise, have completed seven years of age.

§ 1.

All persons for whom universal laws were passed are bound by them everywhere.

§ 2.

However, all persons who are actually present in a certain territory are exempted from the universal laws which do not have force in that territory.

§ 3.

With due regard for the prescription of can. 13, laws established for a particular territory bind those for whom they were passed when these persons have a domicile or a quasi-domicile there and are likewise actually present in the territory.

§ 1.

Particular laws are not presumed to be personal but territorial, unless (nisi) it is otherwise evident.

§ 2.

Travelers (peregrini):

(1) are not bound by the particular laws of their own territory as long as they are absent from it unless (nisi) their violation would cause harm in their own territory or unless the laws are personal ones;

(2) are not bound by the laws of the territory in which they are present with the exception of those laws which provide for the public order, which determine the formalities of legal actions, or which deal with immovable goods situated in that territory.

§ 3.

Transients (vagi) are bound by both universal laws and the particular laws which are in force in the place where they are present.

When there is a doubt of law, laws do not bind even if they be nullifying and disqualifying ones. When there is a doubt of fact, however, ordinaries can dispense from them. In the latter case, if it is a question of a reserved dispensation, the ordinaries can dispense so long as the dispensation is usually granted by the authority to whom it is reserved.

§ 1.

Ignorance or error concerning invalidating or incapacitating laws does not hinder their effectiveness unless (nisi) it is expressly determined otherwise.

§ 2.

Ignorance or error about a law, a penalty, a fact concerning oneself, or a notorious fact concerning another is not presumed; it is presumed about a fact concerning another which is not notorious until the contrary is proven.

§ 1.

Laws are authentically interpreted by the legislator and by the one to whom the legislator has granted the power to interpret them authentically.

§ 2.

An authentic interpretation communicated in the form of a law has the same force as the law itself and must be promulgated. Furthermore, if such an interpretation merely declares what was certain in the words of the law in themselves, it has retroactive force; if it restricts or extends the law or if it explains a doubtful law, it is not retroactive.

§ 3.

However, an interpretation contained in a judicial decision or an administrative act in a particular matter does not have the force of law and binds only the persons and affects only those matters for which it was given.

Ecclesiastical laws are to be understood in accord with the proper meaning of the words considered in their text and context.

If the meaning remains doubtful and obscure, recourse is to be taken to parallel passages, if such exist, to the purpose and the circumstances of the law, and to the mind of the legislator.

Laws which establish a penalty or restrict the free exercise of rights or which contain an exception to the law are subject to a strict interpretation.

Unless (nisi) it is a penal matter, if an express prescription of universal or particular law or a custom is lacking in some particular matter, the case is to be decided in light of laws passed in similar circumstances, the general principles of law observed with canonical equity, the jurisprudence and praxis of the Roman Curia, and the common and constant opinion of learned persons.

A later law abrogates a former law or derogates from it if it expressly states so, if it is directly contrary to it, or if it entirely reorders the subject matter of the former law; but a universal law in no way derogates from a particular or special law unless (nisi) the law itself expressly provides otherwise.

In a case of doubt the revocation of a preexistent law is not presumed, but later laws are to be related to earlier ones and, insofar as it is possible, harmonized with them.

Civil laws to which the law of the Church defers should be observed in canon law with the same effects, insofar as they are not contrary to divine law and unless (nisi) it is provided otherwise in canon law.