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The article shows the contribution of the spiritual intelligentsia to the formation and development of justice on the territory of Ancient Russia. The analysis of legal sources indicates considerable influence of Byzantium on the formation of regulatory base and justice of Russia. Raised are the questions of judicial powers of the Old Russian episcopate in relation to judicial disputes of laymen and clergy. The empirical material is presented by quotes from the legal documents of Byzantium and Ancient Russia confirming theoretical views of the author.
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In the presented study, the author by analysing the content of the definition of legal decrees and rescripts codified in can. 48 and 59 §1 of the CIC, pointed out that these regulations do not contain any explicit components differentiating these categories of acts. In his opinion, the assumptions contained in the definitions do not fully fit many system solutions formulated in other code regulations.The author of the article proved that the difference between the two categories of acts mentioned in the title becomes clear in their formal aspect because a decree in order to be valid should be issued in a written form. In the case of rescripts, however, the legislator departs from this requirement allowing oral legal effectiveness of this type of legislation. Nonetheless, according to the author, the difference between these two categories of acts is not substantial since, in this case, it only concerns the formal aspect of an act.
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The church fathers and the scholastic doctors of the Middle Ages looked with favor upon husbandry and workmanship but regarded trade with distrust because it was an occupation with money which, although not wicked in itself, nevertheless endangered the salvation of the soul. According to the canon of law practices, to take usury that means pay surplus in borrowing or buying is always forbidden to everybody, but to trade is sometimes allowed and sometimes prohibited. The profits come from trade which all of them ill-gotten so the canon laws warns that every purity man must be avoid the occasion of sin in the process of buying and selling. The Holy Bible to curse the usurer who nearly all of them merchants, they are all damnable because buy sin but sell time which belong to God. According to church, the works of God are all good, but merchants who pursuits gain are worship to Mammon who is deity of money, and in reality money is an image of Satan (Ba’al) that he is a wicked spirit.
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The subject of this article is to present the issue of compliance of regulations concerning students’ exemptions from school classes in order to participate in Lent retreat with the rule of equal rights of churches and other religious associations. While analyzing these issues the author comes to a conclusion that dependence of obtaining right to exemption from school classes on requirement of pledging participation by students in school religious education is discriminative and violates the constitutional rule of equality towards law and it is not in accordance with the rule of equal rights of churches and other religious associations. Moreover it causes discrimination of students since it creates conditions to obtain subject exemptions only for those students who belong to Christian denominations. The author demands that participation in religious education as a subject of school education shall not be associated with a duty of performing by students particular religious observances as a retreat is not an element of school education conducted within the educational system. The right to possible obtainment of exemptions by students for participation in a retreat should be regulated not in educational law but in a legal act referring to religious freedom of individuals.
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The article concerns the problems of copyright protection of religious works. Problems that were presented in the article are: restriction of religious freedom under the copyright law, copyright protection in the light of canon law, the ability of religious works for copyright protection, the interpretation of Article 31 of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights regarding fair use works as part of religious ceremonies, the right to reprint articles on religious topics, exploitation of speech and sermons presented at public meetings and exposure to public view works of art and architecture on religious themes.
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The subject matter of the present paper is the issue concerning military service of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The author mainly focuses on legal regulations and analysis of judicial decisions, nevertheless, the most important aspects of Jehovah’s Witnesses teaching are also included. The article presents the evolution of legal regulations as well as the standpoint of jurisdiction in this particular area. The permission to refuse military service of Jehovah’s Witnesses had not been granted by either the legislator or the court until the period of system shift. As it is emphasized by the author, problems that arise due to the existing regulations and their practical implementation are believed to become a redundant debate, especially when common military service obligation is suspended. However, in the light of existing threats it cannot be excluded that the military service obligation will be implemented.
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In this text, the way of realization of the equality principle of churches and religious associations towards the state is introduced. The principle is one of the most essential in the system of the contemporary Polish religious law in relation to the functioning of the priesthoods in the national penitentiaries.
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The Gaudium et Spes Constitution names a lot of rights and duties of a humanperson. They have emphasized the constant teaching of the Church on the interdependency ofrights and duties. This paper poses a question about the possible influence of the Constitutionon the formulation of the rights and duties of the faithful which were laid down in the Code ofCanon Law. This influence can be noticed, in particular, in the ideological layer of the unshakeable conviction of the Church about the interdependency of rights and duties, in the possibility of limiting the rights and, to a lesser degree, in the relation to specific formulations of the rights and duties, which stems from the diversity of the addressees of both documents.
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The article deals with the rights and obligations of the Catholic faithful, as specified in the Code of the Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO), compared with the Code of Canon Law from 1983 (CIC). It pays particular attention not only to the legal differences arising from the different legal schemes of matter and from different legal solutions, but traces the diverse theological accents contained in CCEO. These theological accents are enriched by brief description of the social accents, assessed in the light of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, and this leads to a description and recognition of the very topical relevance of the legislation of the CCEO, focusing on life in a pluralistic society coupled with a high degree of intra-ecclesial, ecumenical, interreligious, and social cooperation.
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In the Middle Ages Premonstratensian monasteries were organised along a principle istypical of the Order, that is affi liation and the paternal right (ius paternitatis). All the monasterieswere divided into regional groups, known as cyrkarie (provinces). Each provincewas a inspected by representatives of the single abbey holding the paternal right.In the 14th century, symptoms of a crisis became visible in not only in the Polish Provinceof the Order of St Norbert (Premonstratensian), and were especially intensifi ed inthe women’s convents. Potential reasons for the crisis included the secluded situation ofthe monasteries, their poor fi nancial standing, a drop in the number of vocations, andthe social structure of the monasteries. Th e Abbey in Brzesko–Hebdów, overseeing thePremonstratensian parishes visited them regularly, manned them with their monks, andundertook other actions in an attempt to reform the Polish Premonstratensians in the 14thand 15th centuries. The funding of another Premonstratensian Abbey by King Ladislaus (Władysław) Jagiełłoin Nowy Sącz and populating it with monks from Brzesko was a proof of the greatpotential of the Hebdów Abbey in its capacity of the initiator and coordinator of the reformaimed at the revival of the Order and forcing its members to observe the monastic rule. The article also emphasises the signifi cant impact of the competition between individual monasteriesof the Premonstratensian Order in the 15th century on the position of Brzesko.
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This article tries to explain the peregrinatio academica of the students of Civil and Canon Law of the Crown of Aragon to the Universities of Italy during the 15th and the 16th centuries. Some details concerning the success of some universities like Bologna, Padova or Pavia, in general, or Pisa or Ferrara, in particular, are explained. The cultural and political relationship among the Kingdoms of Aragon, Mallorca, Valencia and the Principate of Catelonia and the different states of Italy helps to understand the introduction of the culture of mos italicus in the universities and the courts of the Crown of Aragon during their modernity.
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The article presents the legal regulations on the principles of the presence of women in the Polish-Lithuanian army in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Jan Tarnowski, at the end of the first half of the sixteenth century, introduced the first significant limitations on this issue. According to military law the only women that could exist in the army were the wives of soldiers and persons accompanying the troops (e.g. merchants, servants and the like). The soldiers were not satisfied with this arrangement and began to exploit loopholes for their own purposes. Firstly, marriages were concluded to make prostitution possible. Secondly, in many cases, soldiers declared a concubine or sexual slave to be their lawful wife. During the latter half of the sixteenth century and first half of the seventeenth century, lawmakers endeavoured to refine the rules. As a result (despite the difficulties involved and with the help of military law) during that period the Polish-Lithuanian army had only a small percentage of women present, especially when compared to Western armies. During periods of war there was a significant departure from the legal rules. Then the soldiers treated captured women as spoils of war. Some of the women became “military wives”, others were simply used as sex slaves.
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The question of mercy and solidarity can be seen from different aspects. From the perspective of the Social Doctrine of the Church, this question substantially refers to the problem of wealth distribution and poverty. Through the entire history of the Church, charitable giving has been a response to the conditions of poverty that surround us. Even though charitable giving, as a form of Christian love, is a valid principle of Church teaching and practice, in the past less attention was paid to the causes of poverty: emphasis was placed on the praxis of charitable giving in a context of social inequality. With the evolution of its Social Doctrine, the Church has increasingly sought to understand the causes of poverty and to strive for a system shift that will reduce inequality. Without doubt, the causes lie not only in individual poverty, but in the way that modern society functions, specifically prevailing economic mechanisms that generate poverty and increase inequality between a wealthy minority and an impoverished majority. Charity, while it is advisable and necessary, is not a sufficient response to this phenomenon in the contemporary world, characterized by globalization processes and a high rate of mutual interdependency of individuals and states. The article affirms that solidarity is the appropriate response of the Church, intended not as simple compassion for the poorest victims but as an active principle in the regulation of human relations, directed toward institutional structuring in order to achieve social justice and the common good. The article begins by analyzing the relationship between poverty and its causes and moves from there to an analysis of Church teaching on charity and its connection to the virtue of justice, concluding with a consideration of solidarity, asking if this social virtue can be institutionalized in contemporary society.
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At the end of the 16th and through the 1st half of the 17th c., seven Benedictine convents were founded in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Niasviaž, Vilnius, Kaunas, Minsk, Kražiai, Orša and Smolensk (Slonim) all of them functioned according to the Rule of St. Benedict. The article analyzes the Polish translations and explanations of the Rule that helped to adapt it to the contemporary realities: “Reformed Rule”, composed by Magdalena Mortęska in 1605 in Kulm, Poland; the translation of the Rule, composed by Vilnius bishop Eustachijus Valavičius in 1629; the another one, composed by the Old Trakai Benedictine abate Stanislovas Ščygielskis, published 1677 in Vilnus; and the set of legal acts dedicated to convents created by Vilnius bishop Konstantinas Kazimieras Bžostovskis, published 1710 in Vilnius. The investigation has shown that the greatest impact on the Benedictine spirituality was made by Vilnius bishop E. Valavičius. Some of the Lithuanian Benedictines’ customs, described by E. Valavičius, have survived until today and can be traced to the Kaunas Benedictine convent.
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After the First World War the newly reborn Polish state needed huge financial expenditures to manage the immense poverty, unemployment, and deprivation. But after the war the state couldn’t manage such problems alone, because of the lack of sufficient resources to be able to meet the needs of those affected. That is why numerous charitable organizations were being established. They were created out of religious inspiration by groups of the faithful or specifically by the churches and other denominations. The most numerous group of associations was that established by the Catholic Church – the largest denomination in Poland. The associations were regulated by the Law on Associations of 1932, prior to which they were subject to the various post-partition laws in the three sectors. But in most cases the Law on Associations didn’t distinguish separate regulations for religious associations. In contemporary Poland it is the Law on Associations of 1989 that regulates the creation of associations. It further divides associations into two main groups – registered and non-registered. It will be the law which governs those secular associations which are established for religious purposes. It applies to denominational associations with some exceptions, but doesn’t apply at all to those established by churches and other denominations (that is, ecclesiastical associations). Currently, similarly to the interwar period, the purposes of specified groups of associations haven’t changed – the main reason for their existence is to engage in undertaking charitable activities.
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The purpose of this paper is to review the most important trends as found in rendering social services by churches. The typical purposes pursued by religious associations in the era of Dualism and the changes detectable in the activities of the civil sector in Horthy-era were the first examined topics. The paper relies on the empirical research that I conducted in 2014, and that analysed the activities of the largest charity organizations in Hungary. It was possible to conclude that in Hungary there was an exemplary tradition of developing cohesive civic activities in the area of charity. Their efficacy depended on the ability of the organizations to solicit from the donors to help others.
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Does religion represent a threat to public life and freedom of individuals or perhaps an opportunity for integral development that stems from care for the state as the common good? Christianity does not regard faith as a private matter. It must enjoy freedom in the public sphere. Therefore, assuming that state regulations have no concealed or overtly anti-religious bias, they are certain to entail endeavours to set the barely definable boundaries of the permissible and the impermissible. Richard John Neuhaus proved that the naked square is an illusion, an imposture rather than an opportunity or a decent objective. Public life, as any other kind of existence, abhors vacuum. The calls for confining religion to the private sphere are always to be a failure for the health of the public life. The freedom of religion, as any other freedom, is a challenge that requires defense and price to be paid by nations and individuals. The specific and true cases demonstrate that the numerous antireligious metaphors are not matched by the actual experience. The US Supreme Court decision in Zubik v. Burwell is thoroughly discussed below to give a clear and the most recent example of complexity of both the issue and possible ways of resolving controversies on various aspects of religious freedom.
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The decision of Francis II. to restitute the Benedictine, Cistercian and Premonstratensian orders in Hungary in 1802 does not constitute a turn in ecclesiastical politics of the Viennese court, but a continuation of secularisation trends of the last third of the 18th century. Although the ruler had approved the restitution of religious orders canceled by his predecessor, at the same time, however, persuant to his own power and without consultation with the church hierarchy, he made the decisions on their organisational structure, changed their spirit form from monastic to scholastic religious order and also interfered in their religious life. The convents obtained de jure all their former property, and de facto became only the administrators of a part of the Religious fund`s property. They managed it as their own, but had to use it primarily for the objectives set by the ruler and only secondarily for their own provision. It is known that the proper observance of the order rules and statutes is mainly determined by a firm incorporation of monasteries into the order structures and control system which work within them. If these linkages are released, discipline and the level of religious life decreases. In the case of the above mentioned Hungarian convents other factors multiplied the effects of the isolation; the establishment of united abbeys, the return of monks into the monasteries after years of worldly life and mainly in the fundamental change of their previous commitment. Decrees about the restitution of abbeys quite clearly defined their obligations to the state power, to the tasks in the field of education and training and to the competent authorities, which were subordinated in this area. The decrees minimally solved their internal affairs and issues related to discipline and the religious life of regulars. They did not specify that monastic or other ecclesiastical authorities should effectively oversee the religious and spiritual dimension renewal of religious communities and judge the potential inadequacies and conflicts. All these factors resulted in the orders, shortly after their restoration, being able to take over a number of schools and parishes and lead and manage them effectively. On the other hand, they were not able to find a balance between the order rules and their new commitment during the first half of the 19th century, to reconcile religious life with changing social conditions and, mainly, to satisfactorily resolve their long-term internal contradictions..
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The issue of mixed marriages has been a source of tension and conflict since the period of Josephinism not only between the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations but it also complicated the relationship of the State and the Church. Civil standards that governed the mixed marriage and childrearing in it did not meet the requirements of either side. They were in violation of the canon law of the Catholic Church and the Protestant side in disadvantage in terms of the religious education of children. Although the Tolerance Patent Act as well as Article 26/1791 abolished the obligation to sign the obligatory oath on the Catholic education of all children, in reality, however, it continued to be required. Escalating disputes related to the increasing number of denominationally mixed families got on the program of the Hungarian Parliament in the 30's of the 19th century. Politicising the issue of mixed marriages was related to the ongoing process of the legal emancipation of Protestants in Kingdom of Hungary. The ultimate aim of the liberal opposition was to enforce the principle of reciprocity as a necessary prerequisite for the development of a civil society and also the strengthening of the Hungarian national movement.The Catholic Church used their envoys to lobby during the meetings in 1832/1836, 1843/1844 and 1839/1840 to maintain the Catholic Church as a national religion, and was very much against the fundamental liberalisation of conditions within its own functioning. However the general opinion was in favour of the necessity for the equality of Protestants to Catholics. Both camps influenced public opinion through newspapers, pamphlets, circulars, pastoral letters and the like. The Catholic hierarchy required of their priests an observance of Church standards when consecrating mixed marriages, which the majority of counties and members of the national assembly were opposed to. Religious confusion over mixed marriages crippled and hindered the political process and slowed down the necessary reforms. It also complicated not just the relations between denominations on the level of ecclesiastical structures but also the relations between believers and led to a weakening of the authority and the esteem of the clergy.
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