Canon Law: TITLE X: PRESCRIPTION

TITLE X: PRESCRIPTION

Can. 197 Prescription, as a means of acquiring or of losing a subjective right, or as a means of freeing oneself from obligations, is, apart from the exceptions prescribed in the canons of this Code, accepted by the Church in the manner in which it is adopted in the civil legislation of each country.

Can. 198 No prescription is valid unless it is based on good faith, not only in its beginning, but throughout the whole time required for the prescription, without prejudice to can. 1362.

Can. 199 The following are not affected by prescription:

1° rights and obligations which are of divine law, whether natural or positive;

2° rights which can be obtained only by apostolic privilege;

3° rights and obligations which bear directly on the spiritual life of Christ’s faithful;

4° the certain and undisputed boundaries of ecclesiastical territories;

5° Mass offerings and obligations;

6° the provision of an ecclesiastical office which, in accordance with the law, requires the exercise of a sacred order;

7° the right of visitation and the obligation of obedience, so that Christ’s faithful could not be visited by an ecclesiastical authority and would no longer be subject to any authority.