Droit Canonique Des Biens by Jean Pierre Schouppe (review)

vance the scholarship in this area. It should prove to be a worthy companion to Pope Benedict XVI’s 2010 apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini addressing the topic undertaken by the XII GeneralAssembly of the Synod of Bishops. Sean O. Sheridan, T.O. R. The Catholic University of America School of Canon Law Washington, DC DROIT CANONIQUE DES BIENS, by Jean Pierre Schouppe. Montreal : Wilson and Lafleur, 2008 Droit canonique des biens is a detailed and scholarly presentation of canonical legislation on temporal goods in the Latin Church. It is a superb addition to the Gratianus Series of canonical works published by Wilson and Lafleur. The author is a professor in the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, Rome, where he has taught canon law on temporal goods since 1989. This work is obviously the fruit of years of research and reflection. It reflects similar writings by the author in Italian (Elementi di diritto patrimoniale canonico, 2nd ed., Milano: Giuffrè) and Spanish (Derecho Patrimonial Canónico. Pamplona : EUNSA, 2007). In this French edition, however, Schouppe gives special attention to particular canonical legislation on temporal goods in France, Belgium, and Canada (Quebec). Schouppe has chosen to present canonical legislation on temporal goods in a systematic fashion, rather than with a “canon-by-canon” commentary . This allows him to expound canonical legislation thematically. He presents this legislation in eight chapters. Chapter one considers the teaching of Vatican Council II and canonical legislation on temporal goods. It explains the conciliar influence on the revision of the 1917 code, particularly in the area of ecclesiastical goods. It identifies the structure of Book Five: The Temporal Goods of the Church of the 1983 code, and indicates that often the code applies the principle of subsidiarity and requires the application of civil legal structures to protect church property. Chapter two is an extensive treatment of the constitutive principles of canonical patrimonial law, largely a commentary on canons 1254–1258. book reviews 257 258 the jurist It addresses the innate and independent right of the Church to use temporal goods to achieve its proper purposes; the patrimonial capacity of public and private juridic persons; and the submission of the property of juridic persons to the power of governance of the Roman Pontiff. Chapter three concerns the various classifications of goods: ecclesiastical , “ecclesial,” private, sacred and precious. It also explains categories of goods found in Roman law, several of which are found in canon law: corporeal and incorporeal; moveable and immoveable; specific and generic; fungible and non-fungible; consumable and non-consumable; divisible and indivisible; simple and composite; extra commercium and in commercium; common and public. Chapter four identifies the juridic means whereby temporal goods are acquired. It explains the original means to acquire temporal goods (occupation and discovery; accession, union and specification; and the acquisition of fruits); contracts (and their various kinds); prescription; and the modification of juridic persons (union, division, and extinction). Chapter five addresses the financing of the Church. It first explains canonical legislation on voluntary offerings: pious wills, donations, inheritances mortis causa, offerings on the occasion of pastoral services, and pious foundations. It also explains legislation on appeals, special collections, administrative and judicial fees, and diocesan taxes (ordinary , extraordinary, and seminary). It further mentions “extraecclesial” sources of revenue, and benefices. Chapter six presents canonical legislation on the administration and alienation of ecclesiastical goods. After explaining the technical meaning of several canonical terms (i.e., stable patrimony, ordinary and extraordinary administration, alienation and acts similar to alienation), it indicates the functions of those who care for ecclesiastical goods: their administrators, their ordinaries, and the Roman Pontiff. It further identifies the role of the episcopal conferences and the dicasteries of theApostolic See in caring for these goods. Chapter seven presents the economic structure of the diocese and the parish. It presents legislation on diocesan temporal administration involving the ordinary, the diocesan finance council, the diocesan finance officer, the college of consultors, and the presbyteral council. It explains the diocesan institutes and the “common fund” identified in canon 1274 and resulting from the imperative of Vatican Council II. The chapter also explains the laws on the administration of parochial goods and the roles...