CIC Cann. 48-58

CHAPTER II.

SINGULAR DECREES AND PRECEPTS

Can. 48 A singular decree is an administrative act issued by a competent executive authority in which a decision is given or a provision is made for a particular case according to the norms of law. Of their nature, these decisions or provisions do not presuppose a petition made by someone.

Can. 49 A singular precept is a decree which directly and legitimately enjoins a specific person or persons to do or omit something, especially in order to urge the observance of law.

Can. 50 Before issuing a singular decree, an authority is to seek out the necessary information and proofs and, insofar as possible, to hear those whose rights can be injured.

Can. 51 A decree is to be issued in writing, with the reasons at least summarily expressed if it is a decision.

Can. 52 A singular decree has force only in respect to the matters which it decides and for the persons for whom it was given. It obliges these persons everywhere, however, unless it is otherwise evident.

Can. 53 If decrees are contrary to one another, a particular decree prevails over a general in those matters which are specifically expressed. If they are equally particular or equally general, the decree later in time modifies the earlier to the extent that the later one is contrary to it.

Can. 54 §1. A singular decree whose application is entrusted to an executor takes effect from the moment of execution; otherwise, from the moment it is made known to the person by the authority of the one who issued it.

§2. To be enforced, a singular decree must be made known by a legitimate document according to the norm of law.

Can. 55 Without prejudice to the prescripts of cann. 37 and 51, when a very grave reason prevents the handing over of the written text of a decree, the decree is considered to have been made known if it is read to the person to whom it is destined in the presence of a notary or two witnesses. After a written record of what has occurred has been prepared, all those present must sign it.

Can. 56 A decree is considered to have been made known if the one for whom it is destined has been properly summoned to receive or hear the decree but, without a just cause, did not appear or refused to sign.

Can. 57 §1. Whenever the law orders a decree to be issued or an interested party legitimately proposes a petition or recourse to obtain a decree, the competent authority is to provide for the matter within three months from the receipt of the petition or recourse unless the law prescribes some other time period.

§2. When this time period has passed, if the decree has not yet been given, the response is presumed to be negative with respect to the presentation of further recourse.

§3. A presumed negative response does not exempt the competent authority from the obligation of issuing the decree and even of repairing the damage possibly incurred, according to the norm of can. 128.

Can. 58 §1. A singular decree ceases to have force through legitimate revocation by competent authority as well as through cessation of the law for whose execution it was given.

§2. A singular precept not imposed by a legitimate document ceases when the authority of the one who issued it expires.

Why faith exists amid the nihilistic tide

If, as a certain group posits, there is no reason for faith to exist in a world such as this, what is the point of trust? After all, is not trust an expression of faith?

You trust someone because you have faith in his or her abilities. In other words, you believe that the person you trust is more than capable of something, commonly shown when that person has you covered in many a given context--be it in the battlefield, amid an apathetic crowd, or even in a camp where the victims of intolerance are herded to be destroyed by murderous thugs whose evil can never be forgiven both in this life and in the next.

When you trust someone with your life, it shows that you have absolute faith in that person. The same thing goes with belief in a higher being. You trust that God or Allah or whatever supreme being you profess faith in has your life in mind.

Are you familiar with the term "test of faith?" The world as we know it is an imperfect one. In fact, the imperfections apparently give reason for certain people to deny the existence of a supreme being... Just say it: I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back to the imperfect world... Yes, it is a world where might makes right, where the strong prey upon the weak with utter impunity, a world apparently devoid of any shred of positive energy. Is it not a wonder why man in general has mixed feelings towards the existence of a supreme being?

If, as the nihilist posits, there is no hope for humanity, then the YOLO (You Only Live Once) philosophy applies. Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow, we shall die. Let us try to do everything we can for the sake of pleasure in this nasty, brutish, and short existence those stupid religious dumbfucks who should all be remanded to mental institutions or extermination camps call life, because there is nothing else to it!

If, on the other hand, you believe that there is hope for the human race, you will most certainly understand that life...is worth living, for want of a better term. There is more to living than just waking up every single day to do your part in society and nothing more. There is more to life than the free-flowing booze, the insanely large harem, and the oscenely deep pocket that the hedonist sees as life's only purpose.

There is a reason Faith, Hope, and Charity (the last being the more theological term for Love) are considered theological virtues in the Christian context. Take a look around you. While many are apparently inclined to see the world as it is in the absence of faith (incredulity taken to extremes--trusting no one), hope (despair, cynicism), or love (intolerance, indifference), people embodying these three virtues still exist, extolling God wherever they go, loving one another. How else can one explain the "Faith in Humanity restored" meme?

I'm starting to digress again, am I not?

Faith exists despite the tide of nihilism because it is part and parcel of the human condition. Do you have faith? Don't worry, it's normal. It's something human beings like you and I are inclined towards having. Even if you disavow the existence of a supreme being, you still have faith--how else can it be possible for you to trust your neighbor? How else can it be possible for you to believe that you are loved, that you are not alone in this dark world?

No human race is superior. No religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.

First, they came for the Anglicans.

I said nothing because I wasn't an Anglican.

Then, they came for the Sunnites.

I said nothing because I wasn't a Sunnite.

Then, they came for the Baptists.

I said nothing because I wasn't a Baptist.

Then, they came for the Orthodox Jews.

I said nothing because I wasn't an Orthodox Jew.

Then, they came for the Shiites.

I said nothing because I wasn't a Shiite.

Then, they came for the Daoists.

I said nothing because I wasn't a Daoist.

Then, they came for for the Hindus.

I said nothing because I wasn't Hindu.

Then, they came for the Sikhs.

I said nothing because I wasn't a Sikh.

Then, they came for the Animists.

I said nothing because I wasn't an Animist.

When they finally came for Catholics like me,

none remained to speak for us.

-----

The article is an adaptation of Martin Niemoller's "First They Came..." speech. The title is a quote from Elie Wiesel.

Nie Wieder.

Never Forgive.

There are some evils in this world that are so reprehensible that the perpetrators go down in history as some of the most notorious men and women ever to walk the face of this earth. From the dark days of the Spanish Inquisition to 9/11 and its aftermath, from the government-sponsored genocides (Khmer Rouge) to cases of rampaging individuals going amok with no regard for anything else (Virginia Tech), these people--if one can still call them people--are so reviled that in extreme cases, they are accorded neither mercy nor sympathy when they receive their just penalty. Obvious case in point: The Holocaust. After the Second World War, Nazis were being hunted down like the rats the Soviet Army considered them to be. Even the uninvolved children of Nazi perpetrators are seen as evil, something that a Holocaust survivor named Elie Wiesel said was wrong, for "only the guilty are guilty; their children are not."

Never Forget.

Going back to my case, when the world learned of the systemic genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, it was horrified. Men, women, and children were murdered by the millions because they were mentally infirm, socially awkward, or of ethnic and religious affiliations that the ruling NSDAP loathed to the extreme. In 2001, almost 3000 people died as an immediate consequence of the 9/11 attacks. They were ordinary people: soldiers, office workers, firefighters, policemen, bankers, and the like. Just as the Jews, the Poles, and others were killed by the Nazis for being Jews, Poles, and others who happened to live in Nazi Germany and its occupied locales, these ordinary people were killed by Al-Qaeda for being ordinary people who happened to live, if not work, in the Eastern Coast of America. In both cases, the aftermath was the same: those who understood sought never to forget the evil that happened. In fact, since 2006, January 27 (on that day in 1945 the Soviets liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau) has been commemorated as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. And of course the United States has Patriot Day in memory of those who died in 9/11.

BUT I DIGRESS.


Never Again.

Determined to ensure that atrocities like the Holocaust were to never again take place, the nations of this earth stood united. Despite this, incidents of scales that vary from Bosnia to Stalin's Russia to even al-Assad's Syria still occur. Is it a pipe dream to still hope that never again will the evil of genocide take place? Perhaps, but it is a noble cause.

CIC Cann. 35-47

TITLE IV.

SINGULAR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTS (Cann. 35 - 93)

CHAPTER I.

COMMON NORMS

Can. 35 A singular administrative act, whether it is a decree, a precept, or a rescript, can be issued by one who possesses executive power within the limits of that person’s competence, without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 76, §1.

Can. 36 §1. An administrative act must be understood according to the proper meaning of the words and the common manner of speaking. In a case of doubt, those which refer to litigation, pertain to threatening or inflicting penalties, restrict the rights of a person, injure the acquired rights of others, or are contrary to a law which benefits private persons are subject to a strict interpretation; all others are subject to a broad interpretation.

§2. An administrative act must not be extended to other cases besides those expressed.

Can. 37 An administrative act which regards the external forum must be put in writing.

Furthermore, if it is given in commissariat form, the act of its execution must be put in writing.

Can. 38 An administrative act, even if it is a rescript given motu proprio, lacks effect insofar as it injures the acquired right of another or is contrary to a law or approved custom, unless the competent authority has expressly added a derogating clause.

Can. 39 Conditions in an administrative act are considered added for validity only when they are expressed by the particles if (si), unless (nisi), or provided that (dummodo).

Can. 40 The executor of any administrative act invalidly carries out his or her function before receiving the relevant letter and verifying its authenticity and integrity, unless previous notice of the letter had been communicated to the executor by authority of the one who issued the act.

Can. 41 The executor of an administrative act to whom is entrusted merely the task of execution cannot refuse the execution of this act unless it clearly appears that the act itself is null or cannot be upheld for another grave cause, or the conditions attached to the administrative act itself have not been fulfilled. Nevertheless, if the execution of the administrative act seems inopportune due to the circumstances of person or place, the executor is to suspend the execution. In such cases the executor is to inform immediately the authority who issued the act.

Can. 42 The executor of an administrative act must proceed according to the norm of the mandate. If, however, the executor did not fulfill the essential conditions attached to the relevant letter and did not observe the substantial form of proceeding, the execution is invalid.

Can. 43 The executor of an administrative act can, according to his or her prudent judgment, substitute another as executor unless substitution has been forbidden, the executor has been chosen for personal qualifications, or a substitute has been predetermined. In these cases, however, the executor may entrust the preparatory acts to another.

Can. 44 The executor’s successor in office can also execute an administrative act unless the executor was chosen for personal qualifications.

Can. 45 If the executor has erred in any way in the execution of an administrative act, the executor is permitted to execute the same act again.

Can. 46 An administrative act does not cease when the authority of the one who established it expires unless the law expressly provides otherwise.

Can. 47 The revocation of an administrative act by another administrative act of a competent authority takes effect only from the moment at which the revocation is legitimately made known to the person for whom it has been given.

CIC Cann. 29-34

TITLE III.

GENERAL DECREES AND INSTRUCTIONS (Cann. 29 - 34)

Can. 29 General decrees, by which a competent legislator issues common prescripts for a community capable of receiving law, are laws properly speaking and are governed by the prescripts of the canons on laws.

Can. 30 A person who possesses only executive power is not able to issue the general decree mentioned in ⇒ can. 29 unless, in particular cases, it has been expressly granted to that person by a competent legislator according to the norm of law and the conditions stated in the act of the grant have been observed.

Can. 31 §1. Those who possess executive power are able to issue, within the limits of their competence, general executory decrees, namely, those which more precisely determine the methods to be observed in applying the law or which urge the observance of laws.

§2. With respect to the promulgation and suspensive period (vacatio) of the decrees mentioned in §1, the prescripts of ⇒ can. 8 are to be observed.

Can. 32 General executory decrees oblige those who are bound by the laws whose methods of application the same decrees determine or whose observance they urge.

Can. 33 §1. General executory decrees, even if they are issued in directories or in documents of another name, do not derogate from laws, and their prescripts which are contrary to laws lack all force.

§2. Such decrees cease to have force by explicit or implicit revocation made by competent authority as well as by cessation of the law for whose execution they were given. They do not, however, cease when the authority of the one who established them expires unless the contrary is expressly provided.

Can. 34 §1. Instructions clarify the prescripts of laws and elaborate on and determine the methods to be observed in fulfilling them. They are given for the use of those whose duty it is to see that laws are executed and oblige them in the execution of the laws. Those who possess executive power legitimately issue such instructions within the limits of their competence.

§2. The ordinances of instructions do not derogate from laws. If these ordinances cannot be reconciled with the prescripts of laws, they lack all force.

§3. Instructions cease to have force not only by explicit or implicit revocation of the competent authority who issued them or of the superior of that authority but also by the cessation of the law for whose clarification or execution they were given.

CIC Cann. 23-28

TITLE II.

CUSTOM (Cann. 23 - 28)

Can. 23 Only that custom introduced by a community of the faithful and approved by the legislator according to the norm of the following canons has the force of law.

Can. 24 §1. No custom which is contrary to divine law can obtain the force of law.

§2. A custom contrary to or beyond canon law (praeter ius canonicum) cannot obtain the force of law unless it is reasonable; a custom which is expressly reprobated in the law, however, is not reasonable.

Can. 25 No custom obtains the force of law unless it has been observed with the intention of introducing a law by a community capable at least of receiving law.

Can. 26 Unless the competent legislator has specifically approved it, a custom contrary to the canon law now in force or one beyond a canonical law (praeter legem canonicam) obtains the force of law only if it has been legitimately observed for thirty continuous and complete years. Only a centenary or immemorial custom, however, can prevail against a canonical law which contains a clause prohibiting future customs.

Can. 27 Custom is the best interpreter of laws.

Can. 28 Without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 5, a contrary custom or law revokes a custom which is contrary to or beyond the law (praeter legem). Unless it makes express mention of them, however, a law does not revoke centenary or immemorial customs, nor does a universal law revoke particular customs.