The Ladins and their history of legal resilience

The Ladins of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol are an ethnic minority with an ancient history, located in the Dolomites Mountains, a place associated with extreme beauty and rugged land. Under the Italian Constitution, Ladins have acquired several legal rights connected with their language and history.Ladins have a history dating to the Roman Empire. Located in a strategic place, with Alpine valleys and mountain paths that connect the Italian Peninsula with Central Europe, several Germanic tribes after the end of the Roman Empire invaded and established themselves in the zone, enforcing their customs and laws. Those so-called “barbaric laws” together with Carolingian and Ecclesiastical law gave birth to a particular system of law during the Middle Ages.Afterward, Ladins became part of the Holy Roman Empire, and later, part of the House of Habsburg. During the aftermath of World War I, Italy obtained the region from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in the peace treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye of 1919.The Italian experience with the Ladins started soon after World War I with several publications taking the task of understanding the origins of their language and its people. Ever since, Italian interest in the Ladins has not ceased. In 1998 the Italian Constitutional Court recognized the Ladin people their right to be represented in regional institutions, answering to the historical and social reality of Alto Adige/Südtirol.Consequently, the legal resilience of the Ladins gives testimony of a long history of peaceful victories for their rights, associated with the Ladin language, in the context of judicial procedures, political participation, and legislation.In comparison, Ladins living in other regions of Italy like Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia have not reached the same level of autonomy and privileges as those in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.

Legal regulation of religion in the context of ecclesiastical law as a model of a single legal space in Europe

The basic historical conditions for the formation of religious doctrines within the Christian faith were determined. It was established that the church proclaiming the need for unity of Europe did not object to the existence of nation states. The conclusion regarding the desire of the church to subject the political power in the states of Europe and thereby establish unity of management methods was proved. Such methods were based on the principles of Catholic religious doctrine and dogma. The content culturological integration processes in the environment, particularly in science and art was disclosed. It was identified their impact on integration and mutual penetration of ideas of humanistic orientation into the European consciousness.

L’emergenza e il diritto ecclesiastico: pregi (prospettici) e difetti (potenziali) della dimensione pubblica del fenomeno religioso

SOMMARIO: 1. Una collocazione non casuale - 2. Mutazioni, crisi, emergenze. Valori-fini dell’ordinamento e rilettura in continuità del “microsistema costituzionale” del diritto ecclesiastico - 3. Il duplice significato della dimensione pubblica del fenomeno religioso. Ambiguità e contraddizioni nel diritto ecclesiastico pre-pandemico - 4. Le conferme della pandemia. I limiti della libertà religiosa (e gli spunti per la valorizzazione del suo apporto costruttivo) - 5. Il rafforzamento e l’estensione del paradigma collaborativo - 6. La nuova fase della ripartenza e il binomio collaborazione-sussidiarietà - 7. Riepilogo e rilancio - 8. Note di discussione: i pregi (prospettici) - 9. (segue) i difetti (potenziali). The pandemic emergency and the ecclesiastical law of the State: advantages (in perspective) and (potential) defects in considering the public dimension of religion. ABSTRACT: Despite the pandemic emergency, religion is still placed among the elements that contribute to the material and spiritual progress of society. Particularly, the perception of the role of religion is assuming a greater consideration by State institutions and politics as well among the scholars. In this sense, the emergency law is an opportunity to reflect on the public dimension of the religious factor and a good chance to test its merits (in perspective) and (potential) defects.

Crown, Mitre and People in the Nineteenth Century

Throughout the nineteenth century the relationship between the State and the Established Church of England engaged Parliament, the Church, the courts and – to an increasing degree – the people. During this period, the spectre of Disestablishment periodically loomed over these debates, in the cause – as Trollope put it – of 'the renewal of inquiry as to the connection which exists between the Crown and the Mitre'. As our own twenty-first century gathers pace, Disestablishment has still not materialised: though a very different kind of dynamic between Church and State has anyway come into being in England. Professor Evans here tells the stories of the controversies which have made such change possible – including the revival of Convocation, the Church's own parliament – as well as the many memorable characters involved. The author's lively narrative includes much valuable material about key areas of ecclesiastical law that is of relevance to the future Church of England.

The Court of Arches: Jurisdiction to Jurisprudence – ‘Entirely Settled’?

The Arches Court, the court of appeal of the Province of Canterbury in the Church of England, has existed for more than 700 years. Its evolution – driven by principle, politics and pragmatism – is a fascinating reflection of a key tribunal in the court system of the English Church, and the site of major historical and often contentious developments within the Church. Its appellate status has not changed; it still has jurisdiction over faculties and clergy discipline; its judge is still appointed by the archbishop; and its jurisprudence has contributed much to the development of English ecclesiastical law. However, over the centuries its jurisdiction has contracted; the courts to which appeals against its decisions lie have changed; its historical lawyers of civilian advocates and proctors have been replaced by common law barristers and solicitors; the title for its judge, Dean of Arches, has survived by accident; its procedure has been simplified; and its decisions have throughout its history been respected but today have the authority of binding precedents. The article takes the story up to 2018, when the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure provided that a decision of the Arches and of the provincial Chancery Court of York is today to be followed as if it were a decision of the other court.

A Response to Professor Norman Doe

Personally, I am feeling both buoyed up, and also a bit deflated, as a result of Norman's lecture (and the accompanying Ecclesiastical Law Journal article, to which the lecture is just an hors d'oeuvre). Buoyed up that, according to Oughton's treatise of 1728, in the seat of justice the dean should be addressed as Domine Judex or more frequently Domine Decane. Either will do excellently for the future! Deflated because, while Dean Phillimore's letters patent as Dean of the Arches recognised his ‘sound doctrine, good morals, purity of conscience’, my own were, probably rightly, considerably less effusive.

The First Readers of Lyndwood's Provinciale

The Provinciale (1430) is among the most significant and long-lived works of English ecclesiastical law. It edited and commented upon the legislation of the Province of Canterbury. This article explores the work's initial dissemination and early readership. It is based on an examination of the surviving manuscripts. The first owners of these manuscripts were almost all secular and religious clergy. Differences in content between the copies show how Lyndwood's work was modified. In particular, his edition became detached from his commentary. The manuscripts also reveal readers’ responses to the work. Marginal annotations indicate the individual, collective and academic ways in which early users engaged. Manuscripts were kept up to date through the addition of new laws, but not consistently or for very long. They continued to be consulted alongside the first printed editions of the work. Study of these manuscripts establishes the wide reception and influence of the Provinciale in pre-Reformation England.

Recht am Geschenk des Lebens?

Der Beitrag untersucht und systematisiert die kirchenrechtlichen Perspektiven des Schreibens Samaritanus bonus über die Sorge an Personen in kritischen Phasen und in der Endphase des Lebens. Dabei wird vornehmlich das Ziel verfolgt, die rechtlichen Dimensionen der Seelsorge an Kranken und Sterbenden in der Verkündigung des Wortes Gottes, in der Feier der Sakramente (vornehmlich Beichte, Krankensalbung und Eucharistie) und der Caritas zum Schutz des menschlichen Lebens zu erfassen. Zugleich wird die damit verbundene Frage erörtert, wie kirchliches Recht als solches auf staatliche Gesetze reagieren kann, die darauf abzielen, durch Suizid und Euthanasie ein Recht am oder gegen das Geschenk des Lebens zu legitimieren. The article examines and systematises the canonical perspectives of the letter Samaritanus bonus on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life. The main aim is to grasp the legal dimensions of pastoral care for the sick and dying in the proclamation of the Word of God, in the celebration of the sacraments (primarily confession, extreme unction and Eucharist) and in caritas for the protection of human life. At the same time, the related question of how ecclesiastical law as such can respond to state laws aimed at legitimising a right to or against the gift of life through suicide and euthanasia is discussed.

Origins of Equity

Equitable considerations have been present in human societies for unfathomable aeons. From ancient Greece and Rome to modern times, through ecclesiastical law and the medieval English Chancery, equity has introduced considerations of fairness in legal thought and has helped mitigate the harshness of draconian laws. What is considered equitable has varied over time, with the equitable innovations of the past typically becoming the hard law of today. The purpose of the chapter is to show equity’s continuity in time and across legal systems, as a stepping stone to the argument presented later in the book that equity is a source of international law. The chapter explains that the distinct ways in which we make sense of equity owe something to its historical evolution in our respective legal systems. Ultimately, the chapter highlights equity’s journey from municipal legal systems to international law.