The 1917 Code of Canon Law (abbreviated 1917 CIC, from its Latin title ), also referred to as the Pio-Benedictine Code, is the first official comprehensive codification of Latin canon law.
Ordered by Pope Pius X in 1904 and carried out by the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law, led by Pietro Cardinal Gasparri, the work to produce the code was completed and promulgated under Pope Benedict XV on 27 May 1917, coming into effect on 19 May 1918. The 1917 Code of Canon Law has been described as "the greatest revolution in canon law since the time of Gratian" (1150s AD).
The 1917 Code of Canon Law remained in force until the 1983 Code of Canon Law took legal effect and abrogated it on 27 November 1983.
History
Background
Papal attempts at codification of the scattered mass of canon law spanned the eight centuries since Gratian produced his Decretum c. 1150. The five books of the Decretales Gregorii IX and the Liber Sextus of Boniface VIII were later published.
Reasons for codification
Since the close of the Corpus Juris, numerous new laws and decrees had been issued by popes, councils, and Roman Congregations. No complete collection of them had ever been published and they remained scattered through the ponderous volumes of the Bullaria, the Acta Sanctae Sedis, and other such compilations, which were accessible to only a few and for professional canonists themselves and formed an unwieldy mass of legal material. Moreover, not a few ordinances, whether included in the "Corpus Juris" or of more recent date, appeared to be contradictory; some had been formally abrogated, others had become obsolete by long disuse; others, again, had ceased to be useful or applicable in the present condition of society. Great confusion was thus engendered and correct knowledge of the law rendered very difficult even for those who had to enforce it.
Already in the Council of Trent the wish had been expressed in the name of the King of Portugal that a commission of learned theologians be appointed to make a thorough study of the canonical constitutions binding under pain of mortal sin, define their exact meaning, see whether their obligation should not be restricted in certain cases, and clearly determine how far they were to be maintained and observed.
In response to the request of the bishops at the First Vatican Council, on 14 May 1904, with the motu proprio Arduum sane munus ("A Truly Arduous Task"), Pope Pius X set up a commission to begin reducing these diverse documents into a single code, presenting the normative portion in the form of systematic short canons shorn of the preliminary considerations.
Codification process
In addition to the canon law experts brought to Rome to serve on the codification commission, all the Latin Church's bishops and superiors general of religious orders were periodically consulted via letter. Every Latin bishop had the right to permanently keep a representative in Rome to give him voice at the meetings of the codification commission.
By the winter of 1912, the "whole span of the code" had been completed, so that a provisional text was printed. The 1912 text was sent out to all Latin bishops and superiors general for their comment, and the notations which they sent back to the codification commission were subsequently printed and distributed to all members of the commission, in order that the members might carefully consider the suggestions.
Under the aegis of Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, with the help of Eugenio Pacelli (who later became Pope Pius XII), the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law completed its work under Benedict XV, who promulgated the Code which became effective in 1918. The work having been begun by Pius X and being promulgated by Benedict XV, it is sometimes called the "Pio-Benedictine Code".
Period of enforcement
The new code was completed in 1916. The code was promulgated on 27 May 1917, Pentecost Sunday, as the Code of Canon Law () by Pope Benedict XV's apostolic constitution Providentissima Mater Ecclesia. Benedict XV set 19 May 1918 as the date on which it came into force.