Published: 2025-12-22

The Right to Ecclesiastical Adjudication as an Expression of Religious Freedom

Maciej Andrzejewski Profil ORCID autora Maciej Andrzejewski
LIBERTAS RELIGIOSA Studium interdyscyplinarne wolności religijnej
Section: Artykuły
DOI https://doi.org/10.21697/lr.16393

Abstract

This study analyzes the issue of the right of the faithful of the Catholic Church to access ecclesiastical courts as an element of religious freedom, highlighting its normative foundations. The paper emphasizes that the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical court is an expression of pastoral authority, which originates from the mission entrusted by Christ, and its exercise is embedded within the internal law of the Church. Polish law guarantees religious freedom and the autonomy of the Church; however, it does not explicitly recognize the right to an ecclesiastical court as a subjective right. Instead, the right of the faithful to an ecclesiastical court arises from the Church’s endogenous law and cannot be derived directly from exogenous law. Furthermore, the study points out that there are legal grounds within the Catholic Church that indicate the existence of the institution of the jurisdictional autonomy of the ecclesiastical court in canon law. Although this has not been codified as a procedural principle, it can be reconstructed based on existing legal norms.

Keywords:

Canon law, system of Church-State relations, right to trial, religious freedom

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Citation rules

Andrzejewski, M. (2025). The Right to Ecclesiastical Adjudication as an Expression of Religious Freedom. LIBERTAS RELIGIOSA Studium Interdyscyplinarne wolności Religijnej, 4, 123–146. https://doi.org/10.21697/lr.16393

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