THE CODIFICATION OF CANON LAW.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1166, 17 June 1911, Page 9

THE CODIFICATION OF CANON LAW.

The Roman Catholic Bishops of the world (says the "Catholic Times") may expect to have in their hands about tho end of the present month tho first part of (he new Code of Canon Law, which deals with the tjiicsfion of'matrimonial impediments. Notwithstanding tho persistent vigour with which this, the greatest enterprise of the present Pontificate, is l>cing pushed forward by the Commission appointed a few years back by Pius X, it is not probable that tho entire Code can be brought to a conclusion before tho lapse of thirty or forty years. ' The field is too vast to be covered with tho necessary caro 'in a shorter period. Of tho various decrees the promulgation of which has been anticipate! during tho past year or so. such as those concerning the removal of parish priests by their Ordinaries, and the necessity for ecclesiastics of abstaining from commercial affairs, nearly all have been published by way of experiment. They will, of course, bo substantially incorporated in tho new Code, but they will to a certain extent undergo accidental changes, inasmuch as tho Roman authorities will tako nolo in the meantime of the manner in which each decree works out. The many responses given by the Homan Congregations to ecclesiastics by way of explaining ono or other of tho decrees will malco somo additions to them when the day conies for their final incorporation in tiio great Code.