CODICE DEL DIRITTO CANONICO ORIENTALE. — As with the codification of Latin canon law, so too proposals were advanced for the compilation of a C. of o. c. l. at the preparatory meetings of the First Vatican Ecumenical Council, specifically at the Sixth Congress of the Commission for the Missions and the Eastern Churches, on the basis also of the votes expressed by certain Eastern prelates. As early as 1 August 1858, Pius IX had entrusted the Benedictine G. B. Pitra, later a cardinal, with collecting the texts of the sources of Eastern canon law; and he had entrusted the same task to the S. Congregation of Propaganda Fide pro negotiis ritus orientalis in the apostolic letter of 6 January 1862, by which he established II.
Meanwhile, requests reached the Holy See from various quarters that it proceed with the codification of Eastern canon law; these requests became particularly insistent after the promulgation of the CIC. In December 1929, Pope Pius XI established a commission of four cardinals (presided over by Cardinal Pietro Gasparri) for the preparatory studies for the Eastern codification (AAS, 21 [1929], p. 669); the commission was assisted by experts (jurists and historians), particularly competent in the various fields of Oriental studies, most of whom were Easterners (delegated by their respective Ordinaries), belonging to the various rites.
At the same time, the Holy See took steps to ensure that Eastern canon law would become known to a greater number of scholars, introducing Ius ecclesiasticum orientale as an elective subject in faculties of canon law, entrusted to teachers with particular specialized competence (cf. S. Congr. de Seminaris et studiorum Universitatis, Ordinationes, 12 June 1931, art. 27 and app. I; AAS, 23 [1931], p. 282).
In 1935 a new commission of cardinals was established, charged with preparing the drafts of the C.
and finally, taking into account the opinions submitted by the Ordinaries, with drawing up the C. itself (v. COMMISSIONI PONTIFICE, n. 3).
The work of codification is now almost complete; and thus far 33 vols. of the sources used for this work have been published (v. COMMISSIONI PONTIFICE, n. 3).
Following the example of what was done during the work of codifying Latin canon law (v. CODEX IURIS CANONICI), it seems that there is an intention to promulgate some preliminary portion of the C. of o. c. l. as well: indeed, with the motu proprio « Crebrae allatae » of 22 February 1949 (AAS, 41 [1949], pp. 89-119), all the norms on marriage were meanwhile published, and they entered into force on the following 2 May (as can be seen from an examination of their text, the CIC was used to a considerable extent in them, especially with regard to legislative technique).
CODICE DI DIRITTO CANONICO: V. CODEX IURIS CANONICI.