Existencia, validez y eficacia del acto jurídico canónico

Abstract

Existence, validity and effectiveness of the canonical juridical act The thesis attempts to gather pieces of general legal science that stand out as fundamental for the construction of a juridical act effectiveness theory in accordance with canonical principles, a theory that can be considered logical and integral as well as sufficiently simple, applicable and useful in all fields of juridical activity in the Church. Chapter I presents the historical development of the civil and canonical scientific doctrine on the juridical act from the Roman law to the current canon law. Chapter II analyses the constitutive elements of the juridical act in order to delimit the essential level (ad existentiam) and the productive level (ad validitatem) in each of the structural elements, taking into account the most relevant peculiarities of some typically canonical acts. Chapter III focuses on the conceptualisation of the key categories. It emphasises that the axis of the canonical system of the effectiveness of the juridical act is constituted by three pairs of categories: existentia/inexistentia, validitas/nullitas and efficacitas/inefficacitas sensu stricto. Their use makes it possible to determine with sufficient precision productive aptitude and effective productivity of juridical effects of the act, considering it both in its constitution (in fieri) and in its life (in facto esse).