El tribunal de la rota española como modelo para la organizacion judicial en la iglesia universal

Abstract

The Holy See’s Rota Court of the Nunciature in Spain is an ecclesiastical court of second and subsequent instances that, as a special privilege, has been performing in Spain since the XVIII century. Its function is to decide on second and subsequent instances at ecclesiastical proceedings, in particular those relating to the annulment of canonical marriages. For this reason, this type of procedures ends in Spain, and no court located in Rome, such as the Roman Rota, is appealed to at any of their instances. This is a special privilege which does not exist in any other country. Recently, in 1999, John Paul updated the rules which are applied to it, thus ratifying its existence as a special court for the Spanish church. The author describes the history of this court, discusses its present rules, and defends its use as a model of ecclesiastical court in other countries, with which it would cease to be a unique privilege for Spain and would turn into a model with a status of ordinary law for the Church.