TITLE VI: PHYSICAL AND JURIDICAL PERSONS

CHAPTER I : THE CANONICAL STATUS OF PHYSICAL PERSONS

Can. 96 By baptism one is incorporated into the Church of Christ and constituted a person in it, with the duties and the rights which, in accordance with each one's status, are proper to christians, in so far as they are in ecclesiastical communion and unless a lawfully issued sanction intervenes.

Can. 97 §1 A person who has completed the eighteenth year of age, has attained majority; below this age, a person is a minor.

§2 A minor who has not completed the seventh year of age is called an infant and is considered incapable of personal responsibility; on completion of the seventh year, however, the minor is presumed to have the use of reason.

Can. 98 §1 A person who has attained majority has the full exercise of his or her rights.

§2 In the exercise of rights a minor remains subject to parents or guardians, except for those matters in which by divine or by canon law minors are exempt from such authority. In regard to the appointment of guardians and the determination of their powers, the provisions of civil law are to be observed, unless it is otherwise provided in canon law or unless, in specific cases and for a just reason, the diocesan Bishop has decided that the matter is to be catered for by the appointment of another guardian.

Can. 99 Whoever habitually lacks the use of reason is considered as incapable of personal responsibility and is regarded as an infant.

Can. 100 A person is said to be: an incola, in the place where he or she has a domicile; an advena, in the place of quasi­domicile; a peregrinus, if away from the domicile or quasi­domicile which is still retained; a vagus, if the person has nowhere a domicile or quasi­domicile.

Can. 101 §1 The place of origin of a child, and even of a neophyte, is that in which the parents had a domicile or, lacking that, a quasi­domicile when the child was born; if the parents did not have the same domicile or quasi­domicile, it is that of the mother.

§2 In the case of a child of vagi, the place of origin is the actual place of birth; in the case of a foundling, it is the place where it was found.

Can. 102 §1 Domicile is acquired by residence in the territory of a parish, or at least of a diocese, which is either linked to the intention of remaining there permanently if nothing should occasion its withdrawal, or in fact protracted for a full five years.

§2 Quasi­domicile is acquired by residence in the territory of a parish, or at least of a diocese, which is either linked to the intention of remaining there for three months if nothing should occasion its withdrawal, or in fact protracted for three months.

§3 Domicile or quasi­domicile in the territory of a parish is called parochial; in the territory of a diocese, even if not in a parish, it is called diocesan.

Can. 103 Members of religious institutes and of societies of apostolic life acquire a domicile in the place where the house to which they belong is situated. They acquire a quasi­domicile in the house in which, in accordance with can. 102 §2, they reside.

Can. 104 Spouses are to have a common domicile or quasi­domicile. By reason of lawful separation or for some other just reason, each may have his or her own domicile or quasi­domicile.

Can. 105 §1 A minor necessarily retains the domicile or quasi­domicile of the person to whose authority the minor is subject. A minor who is no longer an infant can acquire a quasi­domicile of his or her own and, if lawfully emancipated in accordance with the civil law, a domicile also.

§2 One who for a reason other than minority is lawfully entrusted to the guardianship or tutelage of another, has the domicile and quasidomicile of the guardian or curator.

Can. 106 Domicile or quasi­domicile is lost by departure from the place with the intention of not returning, without prejudice to the provisions of can. 105.

Can. 107 §1 Both through domicile and through quasi­domicile everyone acquires his or her own parish priest and Ordinary.

§2 The proper parish priest or Ordinary of a vagus is the parish priest or Ordinary of the place where the vagus is actually residing.

§3 The proper parish priest of one who has only a diocesan domicile or quasi­domicile is the parish priest of the place where that person is actually residing.

Can. 108 §1 Consanguinity is reckoned by lines and degrees.

§2 In the direct line there are as many degrees as there are generations, that is, as there are persons, not counting the common ancestor.

§3 In the collateral line there are as many degrees as there are persons in both lines together, not counting the common ancestor.

Can. 109 §1 Affinity arises from a valid marriage, even if not consummated, and it exists between the man and the blood relations of the woman, and likewise between the woman and the blood relations of the man.

§2 It is reckoned in such a way that the blood relations of the man are related by affinity to the woman in the same line and the same degree, and vice versa.

Can. 110 Children who have been adopted in accordance with the civil law are considered the children of that person or those persons who have adopted them.

Can. 111 §1 Through the reception of baptism a child becomes a member of the Latin Church if the parents belong to that Church or, should one of them not belong to it, if they have both by common consent chosen that the child be baptized in the Latin Church: if that common consent is lacking, the child becomes a member of the ritual Church to which the father belongs.

§2 Any candidate for baptism who has completed the fourteenth year of age may freely choose to be baptized either in the Latin Church or in another autonomous ritual Church; in which case the person belongs to the Church which he or she has chosen.

Can. 112 §1 After the reception of baptism, the following become members of another autonomous ritual Church:

1° those who have obtained permission from the Apostolic See;

2° a spouse who, on entering marriage or during its course, has declared that he or she is transferring to the autonomous ritual

Church of the other spouse; on the dissolution of the marriage, however, that person may freely return to the latin Church;

3° the children of those mentioned in nn. 1 and 2 who have not completed their fourteenth year, and likewise in a mixed marriage the children of a catholic party who has lawfully transferred to another ritual Church; on completion of their fourteenth year, however, they may return to the latin Church.

§2 The practice, however long standing, of receiving the sacraments according to the rite of an autonomous ritual Church, does not bring with it membership of that Church.

CHAPTER II : JURIDICAL PERSONS

Can. 113 §1 The catholic Church and the Apostolic See have the status of a moral person by divine disposition.

§2 In the Church, besides physical persons, there are also juridical persons, that is, in canon law subjects of obligations and rights which accord with their nature.

Can. 114 §1 Aggregates of persons or of things which are directed to a purpose befitting the Church's mission, which transcends the purpose of the individuals, are constituted juridical persons either by a provision of the law itself or by a special concession given in the form of a decree by the competent authority.

§2 The purposes indicated in §1 are understood to be those which concern works of piety, of the apostolate or of charity, whether spiritual or temporal.

§3 The competent ecclesiastical authority is not to confer juridical personality except on those aggregates of persons or of things which aim at a genuinely useful purpose and which, all things considered, have the means which are foreseen to be sufficient to achieve the purpose in view.

Can. 115 §1 Juridical persons in the Church are either aggregates of persons or aggregates of things.

§2 An aggregate of persons, which must be made up of at least three persons, is collegial if the members decide its conduct by participating together in making its decisions, whether by equal right or not, in accordance with the law and the statutes; otherwise, it is non­collegial.

§3 An aggregate of things, or an autonomous foundation, consists of goods or things, whether spiritual or material, and is directed, in accordance with the law and the statutes, by one or more physical persons or by a college.

Can. 116 §1 Public juridical persons are aggregates of persons or of things which are established by the competent ecclesiastical authority so that, within the limits allotted to them in the name of the Church, and in accordance with the provisions of law, they might fulfil the specific task entrusted to them for the public good. Other juridical persons are private.

§2 Public juridical persons are given this personality either by the law itself or by a special decree of the competent authority expressly granting it. Private juridical persons are given this personality only by a special decree of the competent authority expressly granting it.

Can. 117 No aggregate of persons or of things seeking juridical personality can acquire it unless its statutes are approved by the competent authority.

Can. 118 Those persons represent, and act in the name of, a public juridical person whose competence to do so is acknowledged by universal or particular law, or by their own statutes; those persons represent a private juridical person who are given this competence by their statutes.

Can. 119 In regard to collegial acts, unless the law or the statutes provide otherwise:

1° in regard to elections, provided a majority of those who must be summoned are present, what is decided by an absolute majority of those present has the force of law. If there have been two inconclusive scrutinies, a vote is to be taken between the two candidates with the greatest number of votes or, if there are more than two, between the two senior by age. After a third inconclusive scrutiny, that person is deemed elected who is senior by age;

2° in regard to other matters, provided a majority of those who must be summoned are present, what is decided by an absolute majority of those present has the force of law. If the votes are equal after two scrutinies, the person presiding can break the tie with a casting vote;

3° that which affects all as individuals must be approved by all.

Can. 120 §1 A juridical person is by its nature perpetual. It ceases to exist, however, if it is lawfully suppressed by the competent authority, or if it has been inactive for a hundred years. A private juridical person also ceases to exist if the association itself is dissolved in accordance with the statutes, or if, in the judgment of the competent authority, the foundation itself has, in accordance with the statutes, ceased to exist.

§2 If even a single member of a collegial juridical person survives, and the aggregate of persons has not, according to the statutes, ceased to exist, the exercise of all the rights of the aggregate devolves upon that member.

Can. 121 When aggregates of persons or of things which are public juridical persons are so amalgamated that one aggregate, itself with a juridical personality, is formed, this new juridical person obtains the patrimonial goods and rights which belonged to the previous aggregates; it also accepts the liabilities of the previous aggregates. In what concerns particularly the arrangements for the goods and the discharge of obligations, the wishes of the founders and benefactors, and any acquired rights must be safeguarded.

Can. 122 When an aggregate which is a public juridical person is divided in such a way that part of it is joined to another juridical person or a distinct public juridical person is established from one part of it, the first obligation is to observe the wishes of the founders and benefactors, the demands of acquired rights and the requirements of the approved statutes. Then the competent ecclesiastical authority, either personally or through an executor, is to ensure:

1° that the divisible common patrimonial goods and rights, the monies owed and the other liabilities, are divided between the juridical persons in question in due proportion, in a fashion which is equitable and right, taking account of all the circumstances and needs of both;

2° that the use and enjoyment of the common goods which cannot be divided, be given to each juridical person, and also that the liabilities which are proper to each are the responsibility of each, in due proportion, in a fashion which is equitable and right.

Can. 123 On the extinction of a public juridical person, the arrangements for its patrimonial goods and rights, and for its liabilities, are determined by law and the statutes. If these do not deal with the matter, the arrangements devolve upon the next higher juridical person, always with due regard for the wishes of the founders or benefactors and for acquired rights. On the extinction of a private juridical person, the arrangements for its goods and liabilities are governed by its own statutes.