Protocol: Doc 956/87
Author/editor(s): Quentin Edwards
Creation: May 1987 (The date of original creation or publication, if known)

Persistent link: https://iarccum.org/doc/956 (Please use this permanent URL in your publications and bookmarks to link to this document. The files linked below may be modified, but this record will remain at this location.)

Among lawyers who profess to know their way about the labyrinth of the Church of England’s legal foundations there is a debate whether there are two subjects or one – are ecclesiastical law and canon law the same? As some purists contend that canon law is more restricted in its scope I shall take, for convenience and perhaps accuracy, the description ecclesiastical law, which certainly comprehends, or should comprehend, canon law. The ecclesiastical law of the Church of England is derived from six sources (1) papal and domestic canon law, (2) ecclesiastical common law, (3) the relevant parts of the Corpus Juris Civilis, (4) parliamentary statutes, (5) Measures of the Church Assembly and the General Synod, (6) the Canons. Much of the material for this paper comes from a monograph entitled ‘Church and State’ by Brian Hanson. Q.E.