''Vacatio legis'' ( la, absence of law) is a technical term in
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
which designates the period between the announcement of a
legislation
Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...
and its
entering into force.
This concept also exists in the
Catholic canon law
The canon law of the Catholic Church ("canon law" comes from Latin ') is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the legal system, system of laws and canon law, ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the Hierarchy of the ...
.
[Fernando della Rocca, "Manual of Canon Law", pg. 70 (§37)]
Civil law
In civil law, the ''vacatio legis'' is "a period of time between announcement of the legal act and its moment of entry into force". It is also known as "an adaptive period", "an accommodative period", "a temporary or transition stage", "a period of rest" or jokingly as "a legal act's
holiday". The period of ''vacatio legis'' "begins in the moment, when the legal act is officially announced. That kind of regulation as legal act must have a proper announcement, which means that it must be published in
official state journal".
Catholic canon law
In the
canon law
Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...
of the
Latin Church
, native_name_lang = la
, image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran
, caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...
, the ''vacatio legis'' is three months for universal laws,
[Canon 8 §1](_blank)
/ref> and one month for particular laws,[Canon 8 §2](_blank)
/ref> unless the law itself establishes a longer or shorter period of time.[
Stanislaus Woywod says of ''vacatio legis'':
]
See also
*Coming into force
In law, coming into force or entry into force (also called commencement) is the process by which legislation, regulations, treaties and other legal instruments come to have legal force and effect. The term is closely related to the date of this ...
* Sunset provision
References
Bibliography
*Della Rocca, Fernando: "Manual of Canon Law" (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1959).
*Flanery, Austin, O.P. (General Editor): The Vatican Collection "Vatican Council II: Volume 1: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents" (New Revised Edition).
*Woywod, Rev. Stanislaus, O.F.M. ''The New Canon Law: A Commentary and Summary of the New Code of Canon Law; New Edition, Augmented by Recent Decrees and Declarations'' (New York: Joseph F. Wagner Inc., 1918)
Full text
at "Internet Archive".
{{canon law-stub
Latin legal terminology
Jurisprudence of Catholic canon law
Civil law (legal system)
Promulgation
Catholic Church legal terminology