| CODE OF CANON LAW BOOK VI.
PENAL SANCTIONS IN THE CHURCH
BOOK VI.
PENAL SANCTIONS IN THE CHURCH PART I.
OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS IN GENERAL TITLE I
THE PUNISHMENT OF
OFFENCES IN GENERAL (Cann. 1311 - 1312)
Can. 1311— § 1. The Church has its own inherent right to constrain with penal
sanctions Christ’s faithful who commit offences.
§ 2. The one who is at the head of a Church must safeguard and promote the good
of the community itself and of each of Christ’s faithful, through pastoral
charity, example of life, advice and exhortation and, if necessary, also through
the imposition or declaration of penalties, in accordance with the provisions of
the law, which are always to be applied with canonical equity and having in mind
the restoration of justice, the reform of the offender, and the repair of
scandal.
Can. 1312— § 1. The penal sanctions in the Church are:
1° medicinal penalties or censures, which are listed in cann. 1331-1333;
2° expiatory penalties, mentioned in can. 1336.
§ 2. The law may determine other expiatory penalties which deprive a member of
Christ’s faithful of some spiritual or temporal good, and are consistent with
the Church’s supernatural purpose.
§ 3. Use is also made of penal remedies and penances, referred to in cann. 1339
and 1340: the former primarily to prevent offences, the latter rather to
substitute for or to augment a penalty.
TITLE II.
PENAL LAW AND PENAL PRECEPT (Cann. 1313 - 1320)
Can. 1313— § 1. If a law is changed after an offence has been committed, the law more
favourable to the offender is to be applied.
§ 2. If a later law removes a law, or at least a penalty, the penalty
immediately lapses.
Can. 1314— A penalty is ordinarily ferendae sententiae, that is, not binding
upon the offender until it has been imposed. It is, however, latae sententiae
if the law or precept expressly lays this down, so that it is incurred
automatically upon the commission of an offence.
Can. 1315— § 1. Whoever has power to issue penal laws may also reinforce a divine law
with a fitting penalty.
§ 2. A lower legislator, taking into account can. 1317, can also:
1° reinforce with a fitting penalty a law issued by a higher authority,
observing the limits of his competence in respect of territory or persons;
2° add other penalties to those laid down for a certain offence in a universal
law;
3° determine or make obligatory a penalty which a universal law establishes as
indeterminate or discretionary.
§ 3. A law can either itself determine the penalty or leave its determination to
the prudent decision of a judge.
Can. 1316— Diocesan Bishops are to take care that as far as possible any penal laws
are uniform within the same city or region.
Can. 1317— Penalties are to be established only in so far as they are really
necessary for the better maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline. Dismissal
from the clerical state, however, cannot be laid down by a lower legislator.
Can. 1318— Latae sententiae penalties are not to be established, except perhaps for some outstanding
and malicious offences which may be either more grave by reason of scandal or
such that they cannot be effectively punished by ferendae sententiae
penalties; censures, however, especially excommunication, are not to be
established, except with the greatest moderation, and only for offences of
special gravity.
Can. 1319— § 1. To the extent to which one can impose precepts by virtue of the power
of governance in the external forum in accordance with the provisions of cann.
48-58, to that extent can one also by precept threaten determined penalties,
with the exception of perpetual expiatory penalties.
§ 2. If, after the matter has been very carefully considered, a penal precept is
to be imposed, what is established in cann. 1317 and 1318 is to be observed.
Can. 1320— In all matters in which they come under the authority of the local
Ordinary, religious can be constrained by him with penalties.
TITLE III.
THOSE
WHO ARE LIABLE TO PENAL SANCTIONS (Cann. 1321 - 1330)
Can. 1321— § 1. Any person is considered innocent until the contrary is proved.
§ 2. No one can be punished unless the commission by him or her of an external
violation of a law or precept is gravely imputable by reason of malice or of
culpability.
§ 3. A person who deliberately violated a law or precept is bound by the penalty
prescribed in that law or precept. If, however, the violation was due to the
omission of due diligence, the person is not punished unless the law or precept
provides otherwise.
§ 4. Where there has been an external violation, imputability is presumed,
unless it appears otherwise.
Can. 1322— Those who habitually lack the use of reason, even though they appeared
sane when they violated a law or precept, are deemed incapable of committing an
offence.
Can. 1323— No one is liable to a penalty who, when violating a law or precept:
1° has not completed the sixteenth year of age;
2° was, without fault, ignorant of violating the law or precept; inadvertence
and error are equivalent to ignorance;
3° acted under physical force, or under the impetus of a chance occurrence which
the person could not foresee or if foreseen could not avoid;
4° acted under the compulsion of grave fear, even if only relative, or by reason
of necessity or grave inconvenience, unless, however, the act is intrinsically
evil or tends to be harmful to souls;
5° acted, within the limits of due moderation, in lawful self-defence or defence
of another against an unjust aggressor;
6° lacked the use of reason, without prejudice to the provisions of cann. 1324 §
1 n. 2 and 1326 § 1 n. 4;
7° thought, through no personal fault, that some one of the circumstances
existed which are mentioned in nn. 4 or 5.
Can. 1324— § 1. The perpetrator of a violation is not exempted from penalty, but the
penalty prescribed in the law or precept must be diminished, or a penance
substituted in its place, if the offence was committed by:
1° one who had only an imperfect use of reason;
2° one who was lacking the use of reason because of culpable drunkenness or
other mental disturbance of a similar kind, without prejudice to the provision
of can. 1326 § 1 n. 4;
3° one who acted in the heat of passion which, while serious, nevertheless did
not precede or hinder all mental deliberation and consent of the will, provided
that the passion itself had not been deliberately stimulated or nourished;
4° a minor who has completed the sixteenth year of age;
5° one who was compelled by grave fear, even if only relative, or who acted by
reason of necessity or grave inconvenience, if the offence is intrinsically evil
or tends to be harmful to souls;
6° one who acted in lawful self-defence or defence of another against an unjust
aggressor, but did not observe due moderation;
7° one who acted against another person who was gravely and unjustly
provocative;
8° one who erroneously, but culpably, thought that some one of the circumstances
existed which are mentioned in can. 1323 nn. 4 or 5;
9° one who through no personal fault was unaware that a penalty was attached to
the law or precept;
10° one who acted without full imputability, provided it remained grave.
§ 2. A judge can do the same if there is any other circumstance present which
would reduce the gravity of the offence.
§ 3. In the circumstances mentioned in § 1, the offender is not bound by a
latae sententiae penalty, but may have lesser penalties or penances imposed
for the purposes of repentance or repair of scandal.
Can. 1325— Ignorance which is crass or supine or affected can never be taken into
account when applying the provisions of cann. 1323 and 1324.
Can. 1326— § 1. A judge must inflict a more serious punishment than that prescribed
in the law or precept when:
1° a person, after being condemned, or after the penalty has been declared,
continues so to offend that obstinate ill will may prudently be concluded from
the circumstances;
2° a person who is established in some position of dignity, or who, in order to
commit a crime, has abused a position of authority or an office;
3° a person who, after a penalty for a culpable offence was constituted, foresaw
the event but nevertheless omitted to take the precautions to avoid it which any
careful person would have taken;
4° a person who committed an offence in a state of drunkenness or other mental
disturbance, if these were deliberately sought so as to commit the offence or to
excuse it, or through passion which was deliberately stimulated or nourished.
§ 2. In the cases mentioned in § 1, if the penalty constituted is latae
sententiae, another penalty or a penance may be added.
§ 3. In the same cases, if the penalty constituted is discretionary, it becomes
obligatory.
Can. 1327— A particular law may, either as a general rule or for individual offences,
determine other excusing, attenuating or aggravating circumstances, over and
above the cases mentioned in cann. 1323-1326. Likewise, circumstances may be
determined in a precept which excuse from, attenuate or aggravate the penalty
constituted in the precept.
Can. 1328— § 1. One who in furtherance of an offence did something or failed to do
something but then, involuntarily, did not complete the offence, is not bound by
the penalty prescribed for the completed offence, unless the law or a precept
provides otherwise.
§ 2. If the acts or the omissions of their nature lead to the carrying out of
the offence, the person responsible may be subjected to a penance or to a penal
remedy, unless he or she had spontaneously desisted from the offence which had
been initiated. However, if scandal or other serious harm or danger has
resulted, the perpetrator, even though spontaneously desisting, may be punished
by a just penalty, but of a lesser kind than that determined for the completed
crime.
Can. 1329— § 1. Where a number of persons conspire together to commit an offence, and
accomplices are not expressly mentioned in the law or precept, if ferendae
sententiae penalties were constituted for the principal offender, then the
others are subject to the same penalties or to other penalties of the same or a
lesser gravity.
§ 2. In the case of a latae sententiae penalty attached to an offence,
accomplices, even though not mentioned in the law or precept, incur the same
penalty if, without their assistance, the crime would not have been committed,
and if the penalty is of such a nature as to be able to affect them; otherwise,
they can be punished with ferendae sententiae penalties.
Can. 1330— An offence which consists in a declaration or in some other manifestation
of will or of doctrine or of knowledge is not to be regarded as effected if no
one actually perceives the declaration or manifestation. TITLE IV.
PENALTIES AND OTHER PUNISHMENTS (Cann. 1331 - 1340)
CHAPTER I.
CENSURES
Can. 1331— § 1. An excommunicated person is prohibited:
1° from celebrating the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the other sacraments;
2° from receiving the sacraments;
3° from administering sacramentals and from celebrating the other ceremonies of
liturgical worship;
4° from taking an active part in the celebrations listed above;
5° from exercising any ecclesiastical offices, duties, ministries or functions;
6° from performing acts of governance.
§ 2. If a ferendae sententiae excommunication has been imposed or a
latae sententiae excommunication declared, the offender:
1° proposing to act in defiance of the provision of § 1 nn. 1-4 is to be
removed, or else the liturgical action is to be suspended, unless there is a
grave reason to the contrary;
2° invalidly exercises any acts of governance which, in accordance with § 1 n.
6, are unlawful;
3° is prohibited from benefiting from privileges already granted;
4° does not acquire any remuneration held in virtue of a merely ecclesiastical
title;
5° is legally incapable of acquiring offices, duties, ministries, functions,
rights, privileges or honorific titles.
Can. 1332— § 1. One who is under interdict is obliged by the prohibitions mentioned
in can. 1331 § 1 nn. 1-4.
§ 2. A law or precept may however define the interdict in such a way that the
offender is prohibited only from certain particular actions mentioned in can.
1331 § 1 nn. 1-4, or from certain other particular rights.
§ 3. The provision of can. 1331 § 2 n. 1 is to be observed also in the case of
interdict.
Can. 1333— § 1. Suspension prohibits:
1° all or some of the acts of the power of order;
2° all or some of the acts of the power of governance;
3° the exercise of all or some of the rights or functions attaching to an
office.
§ 2. In a law or a precept it may be prescribed that, after a judgement or
decree which impose or declare the penalty, a suspended person cannot validly
perform acts of governance.
§ 3. The prohibition never affects:
1° any offices or power of governance which are not within the control of the
Superior who establishes the penalty;
2° a right of residence which the offender may have by virtue of office;
3° the right to administer goods which may belong to an office held by the
person suspended, if the penalty is latae sententiae.
§ 4. A suspension prohibiting the receipt of benefits, stipends, pensions or
other such things, carries with it the obligation of restitution of whatever has
been unlawfully received, even though this was in good faith.
Can. 1334— § 1. The extent of a suspension, within the limits laid down in the
preceding canon, is defined either by the law or precept, or by the judgement or
decree whereby the penalty is imposed.
§ 2. A law, but not a precept, can establish a latae sententiae
suspension without an added determination or limitation; such a penalty has all
the effects enumerated in can. 1333 §1.
Can. 1335— § 1. If the competent authority imposes or declares a censure in a
judicial process or by an extra-judicial decree, it can also impose the
expiatory penalties it considers necessary to restore justice or repair scandal.
§ 2. If a censure prohibits the celebration of the sacraments or sacramentals or
the performing of acts of the power of governance, the prohibition is suspended
whenever this is necessary to provide for the faithful who are in danger of
death. If a latae sententiae censure has not been declared, the
prohibition is also suspended whenever one of the faithful requests a sacrament
or sacramental or an act of the power of governance; for any just reason it is
lawful to make such a request.
CHAPTER II.
EXPIATORY PENALTIES
Can. 1336— § 1. Expiatory penalties can affect the offender either for ever or for a
determined or an indeterminate period. Apart from others which the law may
perhaps establish, they are those enumerated in §§ 2-5.
§ 2. An order:
1° to reside in a certain place or territory;
2° to pay a fine or a sum of money for the Church’s purposes, in accordance with
the guidelines established by the Episcopal Conference.
§ 3. A prohibition:
1° against residing in a certain place or territory;
2° against exercising, everywhere or inside or outside a specified place or
territory, all or some offices, duties, ministries or
functions, or only certain tasks attaching to offices or duties;
3° against performing all or some acts of the power of order;
4° against performing all or some acts of the power of governance;
5° against exercising any right or privilege or using insignia or titles;
6° against enjoying an active or passive voice in canonical elections or taking
part with a right to vote in ecclesial councils or colleges;
7° against wearing ecclesiastical or religious dress.
§ 4. A deprivation:
1° of all or some offices, duties, ministries or functions, or only of certain
functions attaching to offices or duties;
2° of the faculty of hearing confessions or of preaching;
3° of a delegated power of governance;
4° of some right or privilege or insignia or title;
5° of all ecclesiastical remuneration or part of it, in accordance with the
guidelines established by the Episcopal Conference, without prejudice to the
provision of can. 1350 § 1.
§ 5. Dismissal from the clerical state.
Can. 1337— § 1. A prohibition against residing in a certain place or territory can
affect both clerics and religious. An order to reside in a certain place can
affect secular clerics and, within the limits of their constitutions, religious.
§ 2. An order imposing residence in a certain place or territory must have the
consent of the Ordinary of that place, unless there is question of a house set
up for penance or rehabilitation of clerics, including extra-diocesans.
Can. 1338— § 1. The expiatory penalties enumerated in can. 1336 never affect powers,
offices, functions, rights, privileges, faculties, favours, titles or insignia,
which are not within the control of the Superior who establishes the penalty.
§ 2. There can be no deprivation of the power of order, but only a prohibition
against the exercise of it or of some of its acts; neither can there be a
deprivation of academic degrees.
§ 3. The norm laid down for censures in can. 1335 § 2 is to be observed in
regard to the prohibitions mentioned in can. 1336 § 3.
§ 4. Only those expiatory penalties enumerated as prohibitions in can. 1336 § 3,
or others that may perhaps be established by a law or precept, may be latae
sententiae penalties.
§ 5. The prohibitions mentioned in can. 1336 § 3 are never under pain of
nullity.
CHAPTER III.
PENAL REMEDIES AND PENANCES
Can. 1339— § 1. When someone is in a proximate occasion of committing an offence or when,
after an investigation, there is a serious suspicion that an offence has been
committed, the Ordinary either personally or through another can give that
person warning.
§ 2. In the case of behaviour which gives rise to scandal or serious disturbance
of public order, the Ordinary can also correct the person, in a way appropriate
to the particular conditions of the person and of what has been done.
§ 3. The fact that there has been a warning or a correction must always be
proven, at least from some document to be kept in the secret archive of the
curia
§ 4. If on one or more occasions warnings or corrections have been made to
someone to no effect, or if it is not possible to expect them to have any
effect, the Ordinary is to issue a penal precept in which he sets out exactly
what is to be done or avoided.
§ 5. If the gravity of the case so requires, and especially in a case where
someone is in danger of relapsing into an offence, the Ordinary is also to
subject the offender, over and above the penalties imposed according to the
provision of the law or declared by sentence or decree, to a measure of
vigilance determined by means of a singular decree.
Can. 1340— § 1. A penance, which can be imposed in the external forum, is the performance
of some work of religion or piety or charity.
§ 2. A public penance is never to be imposed for an occult transgression.
§ 3. According to his prudent judgement, the Ordinary may add penances to the
penal remedy of warning or correction.
TITLE V.
THE APPLICATION OF PENALTIES (Cann. 1341 - 1353)
Can. 1341— The Ordinary must start a judicial or an administrative procedure for the
imposition or the declaration of penalties when he perceives that neither by the
methods of pastoral care, especially fraternal correction, nor by a warning or
correction, can justice be sufficiently restored, the offender reformed, and the
scandal repaired.
Can. 1342— § 1. Whenever there are just reasons against the use of a judicial procedure, a
penalty can be imposed or declared by means of an extra-judicial decree,
observing canon 1720, especially in what concerns the right of defence and the
moral certainty in the mind of the one issuing the decree, in accordance with
the provision of can. 1608. Penal remedies and penances may in any case whatever
be applied by a decree.
§ 2. Perpetual penalties cannot be imposed or declared by means of a decree; nor
can penalties which the law or precept establishing them forbids to be applied
by decree.
§ 3. What the law or decree says of a judge in regard to the imposition or
declaration of a penalty in a trial is to be applied also to a Superior who
imposes or declares a penalty by an extra-judicial decree, unless it is
otherwise clear, or unless there is question of provisions which concern only
procedural matters.
Can. 1343— If a law or precept grants the judge the faculty to apply or not to apply a
penalty, he is, without prejudice to the provision of can. 1326 § 3, to
determine the matter according to his own conscience and prudence, and in
accordance with what the restoration of justice, the reform of the offender and
the repair of scandal require; in such cases the judge may also, if appropriate,
modify the penalty or in its place impose a penance.
Can. 1344— Even though the law may use obligatory words, the judge may, according to his
own conscience and prudence:
1° defer the imposition of the penalty to a more opportune time, if it is
foreseen that greater evils may arise from a too hasty punishment of the
offender, unless there is an urgent need to repair scandal;
2° abstain from imposing the penalty or substitute a milder penalty or a
penance, if the offender has repented, as well as having repaired any scandal
and harm caused, or if the offender has been or foreseeably will be sufficiently
punished by the civil authority;
3° may suspend the obligation of observing an expiatory penalty, if the person
is a first-offender after a hitherto blameless life, and there is no urgent need
to repair scandal; this is, however, to be done in such a way that if the person
again commits an offence within a time laid down by the judge, then that person
must pay the penalty for both offences, unless in the meanwhile the time for
prescription of a penal action in respect of the former offence has expired.
Can. 1345— Whenever the offender had only an imperfect use of reason, or committed the
offence out of necessity or grave fear or in the heat of passion or, without
prejudice to the provision of can. 1326 § 1 n. 4, with a mind disturbed by
drunkenness or a similar cause, the judge can refrain from inflicting any
punishment if he considers that the person’s reform may be better accomplished
in some other way; the offender, however, must be punished if there is no other
way to provide for the restoration of justice and the repair of any scandal that
may have been caused.
Can. 1346— § 1. Ordinarily there are as many penalties as there are offences.
§ 2. Nevertheless, whenever the offender has committed a number of offences and the sum of
penalties which should be imposed seems excessive, it is left to the prudent
decision of the judge to moderate the penalties in an equitable fashion, and to
place the offender under vigilance.
Can. 1347— § 1. A censure cannot validly be imposed unless the offender has beforehand
received at least one warning to purge the contempt, and has been allowed
suitable time to do so.
§ 2. The offender is said to have purged the contempt if he or she has truly
repented of the offence and has made suitable reparation for the scandal and
harm, or at least seriously promised to make it.
Can. 1348— When the person has been found not guilty of an accusation, or where no penalty
has been imposed, the Ordinary may provide for the person’s welfare and for the
common good by opportune warnings or other solicitous means, and even,
if the case calls for it, by the use of penal
remedies.
Can. 1349— If a penalty is indeterminate, and if the law does not provide otherwise, the
judge in determining the penalties is to choose those which are proportionate to
the scandal caused and the gravity of the harm; he is not however to impose
graver penalties, unless the seriousness of the case really demands it. He may
not impose penalties which are perpetual.
Can. 1350—
§ 1. In imposing penalties on a cleric, except in the case of dismissal from the
clerical state, care must always be taken that he does not lack what is
necessary for his worthy support.
§ 2. If a person is truly in need because he has been dismissed from the
clerical state, the Ordinary is to provide in the best way possible, but not by
the conferral of an office, ministry or function.
Can. 1351— A penalty binds an offender everywhere, even when the right of the one who
established, imposed or declared it has ceased, unless it is otherwise expressly
provided.
Can. 1352— § 1. If a penalty prohibits the reception of the sacraments or sacramentals, the
prohibition is suspended for as long as the offender is in danger of death.
§ 2. The obligation of observing a latae sententiae penalty which has not
been declared, and is not notorious in the place where the offender actually is,
is suspended either in whole or in part to the extent that the offender cannot
observe it without the danger of grave scandal or loss of good name.
Can. 1353— An appeal or a recourse against judgements of a court or against decrees which
impose or declare any penalty has a suspensive effect.
TITLE VI.
THE
REMISSION OF PENALTIES AND THE PRESCRIPTION OF ACTIONS (Cann. 1354 - 1363)
Can. 1354— § 1. Besides those who are enumerated in cann. 1355-1356, all who can dispense
from a law which is supported by a penalty, or excuse from a precept which
threatens a penalty, can also remit the penalty itself.
§ 2. Moreover, a law or precept which establishes a penalty can also grant to
others the power of remitting the penalty.
§ 3. If the Apostolic See has reserved the remission of a penalty to itself or
to others, the reservation is to be strictly interpreted.
Can. 1355— § 1. Provided it is not reserved to the Apostolic See, a penalty established by
law which is ferendae sententiae and has been
imposed, or which is latae sententiae and has been declared, can be
remitted by the following:
1° the Ordinary who initiated the judicial proceedings to impose or declare the
penalty, or who by a decree, either personally or through another, imposed or
declared it;
2° the Ordinary of the place where the offender actually is, after consulting
the Ordinary mentioned in n. 1, unless because of extraordinary circumstances
this is impossible.
§ 2. Provided it is not reserved to the Apostolic See, a penalty established by
law which is latae sententiae and has not yet been declared can be
remitted by the following:
1° the Ordinary in respect of his subjects;
2° the Ordinary of the place also in respect of those actually in his territory
or of those who committed the offence in his territory;
3° any Bishop, but only in the course of sacramental confession.
Can. 1356— § 1. A ferendae or a latae sententiae penalty established in a
precept not issued by the Apostolic See, can be remitted by the following:
1° the author of the precept;
2° the Ordinary who initiated the judicial proceedings to impose or declare the
penalty, or who by a decree, either personally or through another, imposed or
declared it;
3° the Ordinary of the place where the offender actually is.
§ 2. Before the remission is granted, the author of the precept, or the one who
imposed or declared the penalty, is to be consulted, unless because of
extraordinary circumstances this is impossible.
Can. 1357— § 1. Without prejudice to the provisions of cann. 508 and 976, a confessor can
in the internal sacramental forum remit a latae sententiae censure of
excommunication or interdict which has not been declared, if it is difficult for
the penitent to remain in a state of grave sin for the time necessary for the
competent Superior to provide.
§ 2. In granting the remission, the confessor is to impose upon the penitent,
under pain of again incurring the censure, the obligation to have recourse
within one month to the competent Superior or to a priest having the requisite
faculty, and to abide by his instructions. In the meantime, the confessor is to
impose an appropriate penance and, to the extent demanded, to require reparation
of scandal and harm. The recourse, however, may be made even through the
confessor, without mention of a name.
§ 3. The same duty of recourse, when the danger has ceased, binds those who in
accordance with can. 976 have had remitted an imposed or declared censure or one
reserved to the Holy See.
Can. 1358— § 1. The remission of a censure cannot be granted except to an offender whose
contempt has been purged in accordance with can. 1347 § 2. However, once the
contempt has been purged, the remission cannot be refused, without prejudice to
the provision of can. 1361 § 4.
§ 2 The one who remits a censure can make provision in accordance with can.
1348, and can also impose a penance.
Can. 1359— If one is bound by a number of penalties, a remission is valid only for those
penalties expressed in it. A general remission, however, removes all penalties,
except those which in the petition the offender concealed in bad faith.
Can. 1360— The remission of a penalty extorted by force or grave fear or deceit is invalid
by virtue of the law itself.
Can. 1361— § 1. A remission can be granted even to a person who is not present, or
conditionally.
§ 2. A remission in the external forum is to be granted in writing, unless a
grave reason suggests otherwise.
§ 3. The petition for remission or the remission itself is not to be made
public, except in so far as this would either be useful for the protection of
the good name of the offender, or be necessary to repair scandal.
§ 4. Remission must not be granted until, in the prudent judgement of the
Ordinary, the offender has repaired any harm caused. The offender may be urged
to make such reparation or restitution by one of the penalties mentioned in can.
1336 §§ 2-4; the same applies also when the offender is granted remission of a
censure under can. 1358 § 1.
Can. 1362 — § 1. A criminal action is extinguished by prescription after three
years, except for:
1° offences reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which
are subject to special norms;
2° without prejudice to n. 1, an action arising from any of the offences
mentioned in cann. 1376, 1377, 1378, 1393 § 1, 1394, 1395, 1397, or 1398 § 2,
which is extinguished after seven years, or one arising from the offences
mentioned in can. 1398 § 1, which is extinguished after twenty years;
3° offences not punished by the universal law, where a particular law has
prescribed a different period of prescription.
§ 2. Prescription, unless provided otherwise in a law, runs from the day the
offence was committed or, if the offence was enduring or habitual, from the day
it ceased.
§ 3. When the offender has been summoned in accordance with can. 1723, or
informed in the manner provided in can. 1507 § 3 of the presentation of the
petition of accusation according to can. 1721 § 1, prescription of the criminal
action is suspended for three years; once this period has expired or the
suspension has been interrupted through the cessation of the penal process, time
runs once again and is added to the period of prescription which has already
elapsed. The same suspension equally applies if, observing can. 1720 n. 1, the
procedure is followed for imposing or declaring a penalty by way of an
extra-judicial decree.
Can. 1363— § 1. An action to execute a penalty is extinguished by prescription if the
judge’s decree of execution mentioned in can. 1651 was not notified to the
offender within the periods mentioned in can. 1362; these periods are to be
reckoned from the day the condemnatory judgement became an adjudged matter.
§ 2. The same applies, with the necessary adjustments, if the penalty was
imposed by an extra-judicial decree. |
