Folia Theologica 22. (2011)

Szuromi Szabolcs Anzelm O.Praem.: Medieval Canonical Sources and Categories of Singular Administrative Acts

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Anzelm Sz. SZUROMI

lator of a concrete law is also entitled to grant a dispensation (i.e., Is, qui in ius succedit alterius, eo iure, quo ille uti debetit), even by a deputy, because "what somebody himself may do, that he may even by an other" (i.e. 68th rule of Pope Boniface VIII).87 A parish priest by himself did not have any faculty to grant a dispensation; he needed the explicit authorization of the local ordinary, whose exact areas we find in Decretum Gratiani D. 5 c. 17 de cons.,88 and in Liber Extra 3. 46. 2.89 For obtaining a dispensation, the existence of iusta causa - that is, reasonable cause - was a necessary condition, which could be internal (interior) or external (iexterior). Sources regarding the case of external cause mention separately that type of dispensation which comes from the common good of the Church, that is, ex bono communi.90 Unless the dispensation was granted only for a concrete case, its cessation followed a process similar to the cessation of a privilege.

Conclusion

From the above analysis it appears clearly, that the singular administrative acts in the Latin canon law now in effect have an old tradition - generally going back to Roman Law - and the canonical norms relating to them have broadened continuously, especially due to the ecclesiastical legislation of the matured middle ages and consequently in the modern age too. We may establish that—in spite of the fact that the

87 VI 5. 12. 1: (...) Per ilia verba privilegii: „In speciales et proprios ecclesiae Romanae filios vos recepimus", dictos fratres exemptos non intelligi, et ipsos ex illo in proprios eiusdem ecclesiae filios fuisse receptos, quod ab alio quam a Romano Pontifice vel legato ab eius latere destinato interdici vel excommunicari a quoquam non valent declaramus (...). Friedberg II. 1107-1108.

88 D. 5 c. 17 de cons.: Ieiunia in ecclesia a sacerdotibus constituta sine rationabili necessitate non soluantur. Friedberg I. 1416.

89 X 3. 46. 2: (...) Praeterea postulasti apostolicum responsum habere de illis, qui in quadragesima vel in aliis ieiuniis solennibus infirmantur , et petunt sibi esum carnium indulgeri (...) quod, quum non subiaceat legi necessitas, desiderium infirmorum, quum urgens necessitas exigit, supportare potest et debes, ut maius in eis periculum evitetur. Friedberg II. 650-651.

90 Vermeersch, A. - Creusen, }., Epitome iuris canonici, 1.107.