The Importance of Scientific Research in Canon Law Today

Abstract

The practitioners of canon law claim that ecclesial law and civil law are in a relation of analogy, so that both of these juridical systems have common features but differ in aspects of specificity of matter and essence. In this way, civil law becomes a point of reference for the study of ecclesial law and the statement is true as well the other way round However, one can note a modality of identification only for the features of canon law which are equivalent to the features of civil law, canon law constituting a coherent system similarly to the civil law system. Consequently, canon law is a well-deffined juridical system, delimited by its own juridical norms and which regulates both the internal life of the Church and her external life, in relation to other civil and religious institutions. Therefore, by the topic approached in the present article we join this contemporary ‘juridical trend’, which relies on comparative law in order to know and harmonize the international legislation among all the law systems, the basis of dialogue revolving around the guaranteeing of man’s fundamental rights and freedoms. Actually, the Church respects and participates in the fight for guaranteeing man’s fundamental rights and freedoms because the Church carries in her being and mission the seal of the universal. Recently, the modern scientific juridical research has shown a real interest in the importance of canon law, the main empirical directions referring to the historical highlighting of canon law, the study of the methods dealing with the relations between the State and the Church, the organisms of ecclesial authority, especially those related to the system of justice, the comparative analysis of canon law, the existence and functionality of the canon law system in various religions of the world.