The Church, as an organized body, naturally needs laws. Being a society instituted by God, it has to follow God's direction. And since the Church is a society to prepare man for the next life, it has to have laws governing man's religious, spiritual and moral life.

It is true there are norms of conduct in the Gospels, in the teaching of Christ but these need to be elaborated, translated into practical life, and applied to a particular or changing situations, which the Church has done and continues to do.

Quite early in the history of the Church we have the recorded instance of Church legislation. The question as to whether Gentile converts to Christianity should also be circumcised and governed by the Law of Moses was discussed at a council held in Jerusalem and decisions were taken which were conveyed to the new Christian communities (Acts 15:5-32)

In the same way, throughout the history of the Church we see the instances when questions cropped up or the good of the faithful was considered, and regulations were made, sometimes for the needs of a local Church, sometimes for the universal Church. Councils, particularly ecumenical councils, have been occasions when laws were enacted for the good of the faithful.

Church law is called Canon Law by which term it is distinguished from civil law. The word 'canon' from the Greek, originally meant a rule used by masons or carpenters, a standard by which things were measured. In Christian usage 'canon' came to mean a norm by which one's actions are measured.

The earliest compilation of Church Law, known as the Corpus Canonum (Code of Canons) of Antioch, dates from the 4th century, and consists of the canons of five regional councils held in Asia Minor and Syria during the first half of the 4th century. To these were added later, the enactment of the ecumenical councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Chalcedon. This code became the nucleus round which other Church enactments of later centuries accumulated.

The history of the development of Church law over the centuries is a long and complicated one. Leaving out this history, which might interest the canonist but not the ordinary reader, we come to the present century when methodical, coherent and systematic compilation of a code of Church Law from the existing mass of legal material was undertaken when in 1904 Pope Pius X entrusted this arduous task to Cardinal Gasparri. He worked for almost fourteen years with a large group of collaborators, and finally on Pentecost day 1917 Pope Benedict XV promulgated the Codex luris Canonici (Code of canon law) consisting of 2414 canons, for half a century until the more recent revision after Vatican II was made.

When in 1959 Pope John XXIII announced his intention to convoke an ecumenical council, he also indicated that he would appoint a Pontifical Commission to revise and update the code of Canon Law. Accordingly a commission commenced work in 1965 and on completing its work after nearly 20 years, the New Code, now smaller, consisting of 1752 canons, was promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 25th January 1983.

It should be noted that this code is for the Western or Latin Church. The Catholic Eastern or Oriental Churches which have their own traditions, in respect of liturgy, Church government, Church discipline, etc., have their own Code of Canon Law.

The purpose of Church law (or any legitimate law, for that matter) is to give guidance respecting right conduct. Our attitude to laws should therefore not be a negative one of fear of consequences of breaking them, but rather a positive and constructive one of attaining the good envisaged by them. For instance, one should attend Mass on days of obligation, not through fear of committing a sin by non-attendance, but rather for the positive purpose of fulfilling the duty of worshipping God.