IL “PRIVILEGIUM FORI” NEL CODICE DI TEODOSIO II
THE "PRIVILEGIUM FORI" IN THE CODE OF THEODOSIUS II

Summary/Abstract: The article intends to present, briefly, one of the most important ecclesiastical privileges: privilegium fori, which is found in the Codex of Theodosius as a particular guarantee of the respect due to the sacred nature of clergy and freedom in the performance of their duties. According to this privilege, certain cases are removed from the jurisdiction of the State and devolved to the ecclesiastical judge, according to canonical discipline. It constitutes a form of personal immunity to civil law. By virtue of the privilegium fori, clergy must be tried only by ecclesiastical courts, to the exclusion of all others and without distinction of classes. This jurisdictional bond of clerigy to their own courts arises from a subjective delimitation of the judicial power of the Church and not from a privileged situation as it may be deduced from the expression with which it is known. If one understands that this is a privilege, then this is based on a mistaken premise, in other words, to attribute ordinary and universal character to State jurisdiction and special character to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which leads to the qualification of the exemption from civil jurisdiction enjoyed by ecclesiastics as a personal privilege. The truth is very different, because the jurisdiction of the Church is its own, sovereign and autonomous, as derived from a Society that has the same characteristics. Moreover, jurisdiction being a correlative concept of the process, the independence of the canonical process carries with it that of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

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