CORRECTION OF JUDGMENTS. — The c. of j. is the special procedure provided by law for correcting a judgment affected by a material error.
For it to be available and thus make it possible to avoid a means of appeal (such as, for example, an appeal), it is therefore necessary that the error be evident and material, not juridical—that is, of such a nature as to leave the structure and balance of the judgment unaltered.
This error—according to can. 1878 § 1—may concern either the wording of the final or operative part of the judgment, or the reference made by the judgment itself to the facts or claims of the parties, or the computation of figures.
An application for c. is not subject to any time limit and must be submitted to the same judge who issued the judgment. Nevertheless, there is nothing to prevent it from being submitted to the appellate judge while the appeal proceedings are pending.
As regards the procedure to be followed, it should be borne in mind that the application for c. must be submitted by means of a regular judicial petition, which must be served on the opposing party. If the latter does not object, the judge will rule on it by decree; if, on the other hand, the party objects, a genuine incidental issue will arise, which will be dealt with and decided in the manner established for incidental cases.
The judge’s power to proceed to c., even ex officio and by decree, cannot be excluded.
The decree of c. is attached to the original of the judgment, and a mention of it is made at the foot of the judgment.
BIBLI: F. Roberti, De processibus, II, Roma 1926, pp. 194-96; Wernz-Vidal, VI, 1, De processibus, p. 546; M. Lega, Commentarius in iudicia ecclesiastica, II, ivi 1939, pp. 968-73; M. Conte a Coronata, Institutions iuris canonici, III, De processibus, Torino-Roma 1941, pp. 317-18; F. Della Rocca, Istituzioni di diritto processuale canonico, Torino 1946, pp. 309-10.
Fernando Della Rocca