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- The rules and regulations of the Christian
- church, especially the Greek Orthodox, Roman
- Catholic, and Anglican churches. Its origin
- is sought in the declarations of Jesus and
- the apostles. In 1983 Pope John Paul II
- issued a new canon law code reducing offences
- carrying automatic excommunication, extending
- the grounds for annulment of marriage,
- removing the ban on marriage with
- non-Catholics, and banning trade union and
- political activity by priests. The earliest
- compilations were in the East, and the canon
- law of the Eastern Orthodox Church is
- comparatively small. Through the centuries, a
- great mass of canon law was accumulated in
- the Western church which, in 1918, was
- condensed in the Corpus juris canonici under
- Benedict XV. Even so, this is supplemented by
- many papal decrees. The canon law of the
- Church of England remained almost unchanged
- from 1603 until it was completely revised
- 1969, and is kept under constant review by
- the Canon Law Commission of the General
- Synod.
-