Canon law

<p>Canon law  is a set of ordinances and regulations made by <a href="/facts/Ecclesiastical_jurisdiction/Dev4qFXd">ecclesiastical authority</a> (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members.
</p><p>Canon law includes the internal ecclesiastical law, or operational policy, governing the <a href="/facts/Catholic_Church/rJ4F4gqH">Catholic Church</a> (both the <a href="/facts/Latin_Church/PfAJxEDg">Latin Church</a> and the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Catholic_Churches/TEupXfEm">Eastern Catholic Churches</a>), the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Orthodox_Church/5n20Akh5">Eastern Orthodox</a> and <a href="/facts/Oriental_Orthodoxy/Hr4jF7La">Oriental Orthodox</a> churches, and the individual national churches within the <a href="/facts/Anglican_Communion/N8l7GJUE">Anglican Communion</a>. The way that such church law is <a href="/facts/Legislative_power/ycUCe91S">legislated</a>, interpreted and at times <a href="/facts/Court/QuVoTFmh">adjudicated</a> varies widely among these four bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a <a href="/facts/Canon_(canon_law)/96jMP9cA">canon</a> was originally a rule adopted by a <a href="/facts/Church_council/g2ASGDIR">church council</a>; these canons formed the foundation of canon law.
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Canon law open-in-new

Canon law