The Pontiff's power of reservation has existed for centuries: it began to develop in the Middle Ages as the papacy established itself as head of the medieval Church and the entire Christianity. This monograph is an analysis of the new system of papal reservations in relation to the Bishops as described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law and in the legal prescriptions of the Roman Catholic Church. The study highlights the cases which the Pontiff reserves to himself, removing them from the responsibility of the diocesan bishops, who continue to exercise the power they possess in their own right.

THIS work is but a brief explanation of the fifth book of the Code, which contains the whole legislation now in force on ecclesiastical offences and penalties. The order followed is that of the Code itself, and the text of the law is adhered to as closely as possible. Some canons are passed over rapidly, as being of rarer application; a more thorough discussion is reserved for others which are more practical in English-speaking countries. The theory of delinquency, responsibility and imputability, formulated, for the first time, in a complete and explicit mandated, by the legislator, at the beginning of this book, to serve as a foundation for the penal enactments which follow, cannot fail, although general and more abstract, to prove of interest not only to canonists but also to moralists and jurists. Of speci.al importance for all, and chiefly for confessors, is that portion of the legislation which concerns censures. The Constitution Apostolicae Sedis cannot serve as our guide in this matter any longer. Several of the old censures have been abrogated; others have been modified and some new ones have been added. At the same time the extensive faculties formerly granted to our Bishops and subdelegated by them to priests for the absolution of reserved cases, were considerably restricted. As a consequence, in order to understand the extent of their powers, pastors and confessors will, henceforth, need a more detailed knowledge of the provisions of the common law. It is principally to help them in its acquisition that these pages have been written.