The Presbyters Project

Canon 59

Vt clerici de iudicii sui cognitione non cogantur in publico dicere testimonium.

Petendum etiam ut statuere dignentur, ut si qui forte in ecclesia quamlibet causam iure apostolico ecclesiis imposito agere uoluerint, et fortasse decisio clericorum uni parti displicuerit, non liceat clericum in iudicium ad testimonium deuocari eum qui cognitor uel praesens fuit, ut nulla ad testimonium dicendum ecclesiastici cuiuslibet persona pulsetur.

(ed. Munier 1974: 196)

Canon 59

Clerics should not be forced to bear witness in public courts about judgements made by the courts.

It should be established that if someone was willing to present any case in the Church, following the apostolic law imposed on the Churches, and it happened that the decision of the clerics displeased one side, a cleric who is an arbiter or witness cannot be convoked to give testimony, so that no ecclesiastical person can be forced to be a witness.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The canon is at first sight confusing, for the possibility of appeal from audientia episcopalis was ruled out by Constantine I. However, the canon probably refers to some other form of ecclesiastical arbitration. It is interesting that the canon refers to "clerics" and "ecclesiastical persons" in general, not specifically to the bishops. The canon confirms the general legal rule that whatever happened during the arbitration, it could not be later used during the court proceedings.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa
Italy south of Rome and Sicily

City

Carthage
Capua

About the source:

Title: Carthage Register, Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The text of the canon was transmitted in the Carthage Register (Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta). This collection was compiled by an anonymous author in the 5th century and included by Dionysius Exiguus in his "Codex canonum Ecclesiae Universae" in the early 6th century. It is sometimes known as "Codex canonum Ecclesiae Africanae" (Clavis Patrum Latinorum erroneously attributes this name to the "Codices in causa Apiarii" alone). In the text of the collection, the fiction is maintained, as if they were all read at the session of the Council of Carthage, 30 May 418. The canons from this collection were accepted later by the Council of Trullo (692).

Edition:

C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 173-247.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus

Public law - Secular

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER297, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=297