canon law

American  

noun

1. the body of codified ecclesiastical law, especially of the Roman Catholic Church as promulgated in ecclesiastical councils and by the pope.

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canon law British  

noun

1. the law governing the affairs of a Christian Church, esp the law created or recognized by papal authority in the Roman Catholic Church See Corpus Juris Canonici Codex Juris Canonici

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Other Word Forms

• canon lawyer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of canon law

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50

Example Sentences

It means canon law students have no case law to study or cite.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 19, 2024

Gay rights groups cheered the news, but Dawn Eden Goldstein, a Catholic theologian who holds a licensure in canon law, advised that church members should read the Vatican’s pronouncement carefully.

From Washington Times • Dec. 18, 2023

Defrocking - the process of being reduced to a 'lay state' in which clerical status is taken away from a priest - is among the harshest sanctions available in the Catholic church's canon law.

From BBC • Dec. 19, 2022

To explain his stepping down, a Vatican statement at the time referred to a canon law that allowed bishops under 75 to retire for health reasons or other “grave” reasons, but did not elaborate.

From New York Times • Sep. 29, 2022

The Catholic Church has survived for centuries, not by passing on a ‘celibacy gene’ from one pope to the next, but by passing on the stories of the New Testament and of Catholic canon law.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari