Source: http://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib7-cann1501-1670_en.html
Timestamp: 2020-02-26 23:35:23
Document Index: 100101754

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Code of Canon Law - Book VII - Processes - Part II. (Cann. 1501-1670): the contentious trial
TITLE I. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE (Cann. 1501 - 1512)
TITLE III. THE TRIAL OF THE LITIGATION (Cann. 1517 - 1525)
Art. 2. THE PRESENTATION OF DOCUMENTS
TITLE V. INCIDENTAL CASES (Cann. 1587 - 1597)
TITLE VI. THE PUBLICATION OF THE ACTS, THE CONCLUSION OF THE CASE, AND THE DISCUSSION OF THE CASE (Cann. 1598 - 1606)
TITLE VII. THE PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE JUDGE (Cann. 1607 - 1618)
TITLE IX. RES IUDICATA AND RESTITUTIO IN INTEGRUM (Cann. 1641 - 1648)
TITLE X. JUDICIAL EXPENSES AND GRATUITOUS LEGAL ASSISTANCE (Can. 1649)
TITLE XI. THE EXECUTION OF THE SENTENCE (Cann. 1650 - 1655)
SECTION II. THE ORAL CONTENTIOUS PROCESS (Cann. 1656 - 1670)
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE (Cann. 1501 - 1512)
1/ express the judge before whom the case is introduced, what is being sought and by whom it is being sought;
2/ indicate the right upon which the petitioner bases the case and, at least generally, the facts and proofs which will prove the allegations;
3/ be signed by the petitioner or the petitioner’s procurator, indicating the day, month, and year, and the address where the petitioner or procurator lives or where they say they reside for the purpose of receiving the acts;
4/ indicate the domicile or quasi-domicile of the respondent.
1/ if the judge or tribunal is incompetent;
2/ if without doubt it is evident that the petitioner lacks legitimate personal standing in the trial;
3/ if the prescripts of can. 1504, nn. 1-3 have not been observed;
4/ if it is certainly clear from the libellus itself that the petition lacks any basis and that there is no possibility that any such basis will appear through a process.
1/ the matter ceases to be res integra;
2/ the case becomes proper to the otherwise competent judge or tribunal before which the action was initiated;
3/ the jurisdiction of a delegated judge is fixed in such a way that it does not cease when the authority of the one delegating expires;
4/ prescription is interrupted unless other provision is made;
5/ the litigation begins to be pending; therefore, the principle while litigation is pending, nothing is to be altered immediately takes effect.
THE TRIAL OF THE LITIGATION (Cann. 1517 - 1525)
Can. 1517 A trial begins with the citation; it ends not only by the pronouncement of a definitive sentence but also by other methods defined by law.
Can. 1518 If the litigating party dies, changes status, or ceases from the office in virtue of which action is taken:
1/ if the case has not yet been concluded, the trial is suspended until the heir of the deceased, the successor, or an interested party resumes the litigation;
2/ if the case has been concluded, the judge must proceed to the additional acts, after having cited the procurator, if there is one, or otherwise the heir of the deceased or the successor.
Can. 1519 §1. If the guardian, curator, or procurator who is necessary according to the norm of can. 1481, §§1 and 3 ceases from that function, the trial is suspended in the meantime.
Can. 1520 If the parties, without any impediment, propose no procedural act for six months, the trial is abated.
Can. 1521 Abatement takes effect by the law itself against all persons, including minors or those equivalent to minors, and must be declared ex officio, without prejudice to the right of seeking indemnity against guardians, curators, administrators, or procurators, who have not proved that they were not negligent.
Can. 1522 Abatement extinguishes the acts of the process but not the acts of the case; indeed these acts can also have force in another trial provided that the case involves the same persons and the same issue; regarding those not party to the case, however, the acts have no force other than that of documents.
Can. 1523 Each litigant is to bear the expenses of the abated trial which that litigant has incurred.
Can. 1524 §1. The petitioner can renounce the trial at any stage or grade of the trial; likewise both the petitioner and the respondent can renounce either all or only some of the acts of the process.
Can. 1525 A renunciation accepted by the judge has the same effects for the acts renounced as the abatement of the trial; it also obliges the renouncing party to pay the expenses for the acts renounced.
PROOFS (Cann. 1526 - 1586)
Can. 1526 §1. The burden of proof rests upon the person who makes the allegation.
1/ matters presumed by the law itself;
2/ facts alleged by one of the contending parties and admitted by the other unless the law or the judge nevertheless requires proof.
Can. 1527 §1. Proofs of any kind which seem useful for adjudicating the case and are licit can be brought forward.
§2. If a party insists that a proof rejected by a judge be accepted, the judge is to decide the matter as promptly as possible (expeditissime).
Can. 1528 If a party or a witness refuses to appear before the judge to testify, it is permissible to hear them through a lay person designated by the judge or to require of them a declaration either before a notary public or in any other legitimate manner.
Can. 1529 Except for a grave cause, the judge is not to proceed to collect the proofs before the joinder of the issue.
Can. 1530 The judge can always question the parties to draw out the truth more effectively and indeed must do so at the request of a party or to prove a fact which the public interest requires to be placed beyond doubt.
Can. 1531 §1. A party legitimately questioned must respond and must tell the whole truth.
Can. 1532 In cases where the public good is at stake, the judge is to administer an oath to the parties to tell the truth or at least to confirm the truth of what they have said unless a grave cause suggests otherwise; the same can be done in other cases according to the judge’s own prudence.
Can. 1533 The parties, the promoter of justice, and the defender of the bond can present the judge with items about which the party is to be questioned.
Can. 1534 The provisions of cann. 1548, §2, n. 1, 1552, and 1558-1565 concerning witnesses are to be observed to the extent possible when questioning the parties.
Can. 1535 A judicial confession is the written or oral assertion of some fact against oneself before a competent judge by any party concerning the matter of the trial, whether made spontaneously or while being questioned by the judge.
Can. 1536 §1. The judicial confession of one party relieves the other parties from the burden of proof if it concerns some private matter and the public good is not at stake.
Can. 1537 After considering all the circumstances, it is for the judge to decide how much value must be accorded an extrajudicial confession introduced into the trial.
Can. 1538 A confession or any other declaration of a party lacks any force if it is shown that it was made due to an error of fact or extorted by force or grave fear.
PROOF THROUGH DOCUMENTS
Can. 1539 In any kind of trial, proof by means of both public and private documents is allowed.
Can. 1540 §1. Public ecclesiastical documents are those which a public person has drawn up in the exercise of that person’s function in the Church, after the solemnities prescribed by law have been observed.
Can. 1541 Unless contrary and evident arguments prove otherwise, public documents are to be trusted concerning everything which they directly and principally affirm.
Can. 1542 A private document, whether acknowledged by a party or approved by the judge, has the same force of proof against the author or signatory and those deriving a case from them as an extrajudicial confession. It has the same force against those who are not parties to the case as declarations of the parties which are not confessions, according to the norm of can. 1536, §2.
Can. 1543 If the documents are shown to have been erased, emended, falsified, or otherwise defective, it is for the judge to decide what value, if any, must be afforded them.
Can. 1544 Documents do not have probative force in a trial unless they are originals or authentic copies and deposited at the tribunal chancery so that the judge and the opposing party can examine them.
Can. 1545 The judge can order a document common to both parties to be presented in the process.
Can. 1546 §1. Even if documents are common, no one is bound to present those which cannot be communicated without danger of harm according to the norm of can. 1548, §2, n. 2 or without danger of violating an obligation to observe secrecy.
Can. 1547 Proof by means of witnesses is allowed under the direction of the judge in cases of any kind.
1/ clerics regarding what has been made known to them by reason of sacred ministry; civil officials, physicians, midwives, advocates, notaries, and others bound by professional secrecy even by reason of having given advice, regarding those matters subject to this secrecy;
2/ those who fear that from their own testimony ill repute, dangerous hardships, or other grave evils will befall them, their spouses, or persons related to them by consanguinity or affinity.
Can. 1549 All persons can be witnesses unless the law expressly excludes them in whole or in part.
Can. 1550 §1. Minors below the fourteenth year of age and those of limited mental capacity are not allowed to give testimony; they can, however, be heard by a decree of the judge which declares such a hearing expedient.
1/ the parties in the case or those who stand for the parties at the trial, the judge and the judge’s assistants, the advocate, and others who assist or have assisted the parties in the same case;
2/ priests regarding all matters which they have come to know from sacramental confession even if the penitent seeks their disclosure; moreover, matters heard by anyone and in any way on the occasion of confession cannot be accepted even as an indication of the truth.
Can. 1551 The party who has introduced a witness can renounce the examination of that witness; the opposing party, however, can request that the witness be examined nevertheless.
Can. 1552 §1. When proof through witnesses is requested, their names and domicile are to be communicated to the tribunal.
Can. 1553 It is for the judge to curb an excessive number of witnesses.
Can. 1554 Before the witnesses are examined, their names are to be communicated to the parties; if in the prudent judgment of the judge, however, that cannot be done without grave difficulty, it is to be done at least before the publication of the testimonies.
Can. 1555 Without prejudice to the prescript of can. 1550, a party can request the exclusion of a witness if a just cause for the exclusion is shown before the questioning of the witness.
Can. 1556 The citation of a witness occurs through a decree of the judge legitimately communicated to the witness.
Can. 1557 A witness who has been cited properly is to appear or to inform the judge of the reason for the absence.
Can. 1558 §1. Witnesses must be examined at the tribunal unless the judge deems otherwise.
Can. 1560 §1. Each witness must be examined separately.
Can. 1561 The judge, the judge’s delegate, or an auditor examines the witness; the examiner must have the assistance of a notary. Consequently, if the parties, the promoter of justice, the defender of the bond, or the advocates present at the examination have any questions to be put to the witness, they are to propose them not to the witness but to the judge or the one who takes the place of the judge, who is to ask the questions, unless particular law provides otherwise.
Can. 1563 The judge is first of all to establish the identity of the witness, then ask what relationship the witness has with the parties, and, when addressing specific questions to the witness concerning the case, also inquire about the sources of his or her knowledge and the precise time when the witness learned what he or she asserts.
Can. 1564 The questions are to be brief, accommodated to the mental capacity of the person being questioned, not comprised of several points at the same time, not deceitful or deceptive or suggestive of a response, free from any kind of offense, and pertinent to the case being tried.
Can. 1565 §1. Questions must not be communicated to the witnesses beforehand.
Can. 1566 Witnesses are to give testimony orally and are not to read written materials unless they are computations and accounts; in this case, they can consult the notes which they brought with them.
Can. 1567 §1. The notary is to write down the response immediately and must report the exact words of the testimony given, at least in what pertains to those points which touch directly upon the material of the trial.
Can. 1568 The notary is to make mention in the acts of whether the oath was taken, excused, or refused, of the presence of the parties and other persons, of the questions added ex officio, and in general of everything worth remembering which may have occurred while the witnesses were being examined.
Can. 1569 §1. At the end of the examination, what the notary has written down from the deposition must be read to the witness, or what has been recorded with the tape recorder during the deposition must be played, giving the witness the opportunity to add, suppress, correct, or change it.
Can. 1570 Although already examined, witnesses can be recalled for examination before the acts or testimonies are published, either at the request of a party or ex officio, if the judge decides it is necessary or useful, provided that there is no danger of collusion or corruption.
Can. 1571 Both the expenses which the witnesses incurred and the income which they lost by giving testimony must be reimbursed to them according to the just assessment of the judge.
Can. 1582 If, in order to decide a case, the judge considers it opportune to visit some place or to inspect some thing, the judge, after having heard the parties, is to order it by a decree describing in summary fashion those things which must be exhibited during the visit or inspection.
Can. 1583 When the visit or inspection has been completed, a report about it is to be drafted.
Can. 1584 A presumption is a probable conjecture about an uncertain matter; a presumption of law is one which the law itself establishes; a human presumption is one which a judge formulates.
Can. 1585 A person who has a favorable presumption of law is freed from the burden of proof, which then falls to the other party.
Can. 1586 The judge is not to formulate presumptions which are not established by law unless they are directly based on a certain and determined fact connected with the matter in dispute.
INCIDENTAL CASES (Cann. 1587 - 1597)
1/ the judge is to cite the petitioner again;
2/ if the petitioner does not comply with the new citation, the petitioner is presumed to have renounced the trial according to the norm of cann. 1524-1525;
3/ if the petitioner later wishes to intervene in the process, can. 1593 is to be observed.
THE PUBLICATION OF THE ACTS, THE CONCLUSION OF THE CASE,
AND THE DISCUSSION OF THE CASE (Cann. 1598 - 1606)
Can. 1598 §1. After the proofs have been collected, the judge by a decree must permit the parties and their advocates, under penalty of nullity, to inspect at the tribunal chancery the acts not yet known to them; furthermore, a copy of the acts can also be given to advocates who request one. In cases pertaining to the public good to avoid a most grave danger the judge can decree that a specific act must be shown to no one; the judge is to take care, however, that the right of defense always remains intact.
Can. 1599 §1. When everything pertaining to the production of proofs has been completed, the conclusion of the case is reached.
Can. 1600 §1. After the conclusion of the case, the judge can still summon the same or other witnesses or arrange for other proofs which were not requested earlier, only:
1/ in cases which concern the private good of the parties alone, if all the parties consent;
2/ in other cases, after the parties have been heard and provided that there is a grave reason and any danger of fraud or subornation is eliminated;
3/ in all cases whenever it is likely that the sentence will be unjust because of the reasons mentioned in can. 1645, §2, nn. 1-3 unless the new proof is allowed.
§3. New proofs are to be published according to can. 1598, §1.
Can. 1601 After the conclusion of the case, the judge is to determine a suitable period of time to present defense briefs or observations.
Can. 1602 §1. The defense briefs and the observations are to be written unless the judge, with the consent of the parties, considers a debate before a session of the tribunal to be sufficient.
Can. 1603 §1. When the defense briefs and observations have been communicated to each party, either party is permitted to present responses within the brief time period established by the judge.
Can. 1604 §1. It is absolutely forbidden for information given to the judge by the parties, advocates, or even other persons to remain outside the acts of the case.
Can. 1605 A notary is to be present at the oral debate mentioned in cann. 1602, §1 and 1604, §2 so that, if the judge orders it or a party requests it and the judge consents, the notary can immediately report in writing about what was discussed and concluded.
Can. 1606 If the parties have neglected to prepare a defense brief within the time available to them or have entrusted themselves to the knowledge and conscience of the judge, and if from the acts and proofs the judge considers the matter fully examined, the judge can pronounce the sentence immediately, after having requested the observations of the promoter of justice and the defender of the bond if they are involved in the trial.
THE PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE JUDGE (Cann. 1607 - 1618)
Can. 1607 When a case has been handled in a judicial manner, if it is the principal case, the judge decides it through the definitive sentence; if an incidental case, through an interlocutory sentence, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 1589, §1.
Can. 1608 §1. For the pronouncement of any sentence, the judge must have moral certitude about the matter to be decided by the sentence.
Can. 1609 §1. In a collegiate tribunal the president of the college is to establish the date and time when the judges are to convene for deliberation; unless a special reason suggests otherwise, the meeting is to be held at the tribunal office.
Can. 1610 §1. If there is only one judge, he will write the sentence himself.
Can. 1611 The sentence must:
1/ decide the controversy deliberated before the tribunal with an appropriate response given to the individual doubts;
2/ determine what obligations have arisen for the parties from the trial and how they must be fulfilled;
3/ set forth the reasons or motives in law and in fact on which the dispositive part of the sentence is based;
4/ determine the expenses of the litigation.
Can. 1612 §1. After the invocation of the Divine Name, the sentence must express in order the judge or the tribunal, the petitioner, the respondent, and the procurator, with their names and domiciles correctly designated, and the promoter of justice and defender of the bond if they took part in the trial.
Can. 1613 The rules proposed above for a definitive sentence are to be adapted for an interlocutory sentence.
Can. 1614 The sentence is to be published as soon as possible, with an indication of the means by which it can be challenged. It has no force before publication even if the dispositive part was made known to the parties with the permission of the judge.
Can. 1615 Publication or communication of the sentence can be done either by giving a copy of the sentence to the parties or their procurators or by sending them a copy according to the norm of can. 1509.
Can. 1616 §1. If in the text of the sentence an error in calculations turns up, a material error occurs in transcribing the dispositive section or in relating the facts or the petitions of the parties, or the requirements of can. 1612, §4 are omitted, the tribunal which rendered the sentence must correct or complete it either at the request of a party or ex officio, but always after the parties have been heard and a decree appended to the bottom of the sentence.
Can. 1617 Other pronouncements of the judge besides the sentence are decrees, which have no force if they are not merely procedural unless they express the reasons at least in a summary fashion or refer to reasons expressed in another act.
Can. 1618 An interlocutory sentence or a decree has the force of a definitive sentence if it prevents a trial or puts an end to a trial or some grade of a trial with respect to at least some party in the case.
Can. 1619 Without prejudice to cann. 1622 and 1623, whenever a case involves the good of private persons, the sentence itself sanates the nullities of acts established by positive law which were not declared to the judge before the sentence even though they were known to the party proposing the complaint.
4/ the trial took place without the judicial petition mentioned in can. 1501 or was not instituted against some respondent;
Can. 1621 The complaint of nullity mentioned in can. 1620 can be proposed by way of exception in perpetuity and also by way of action before the judge who rendered the sentence within ten years from the date of the publication of the sentence.
1/ it was rendered by an illegitimate number of judges contrary to the prescript of can. 1425, §1;
5/ it is based on a null judicial act whose nullity was not sanated according to the norm of can. 1619;
6/ it was rendered against a party legitimately absent according to can. 1593, §2.
Can. 1623 A complaint of nullity in the cases mentioned in can. 1622 can be proposed within three months from the notice of the publication of the sentence.
Can. 1624 The judge who rendered the sentence deals with the complaint of nullity. If the party fears that the judge who rendered the sentence challenged by the complaint of nullity is prejudiced and therefore considers the judge suspect, the party can demand that another judge be substituted according to the norm of can. 1450.
Can. 1628 A party who considers himself or herself aggrieved by any sentence as well as the promoter of justice and the defender of the bond in cases which require their presence have the right to appeal the sentence to a higher judge, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 1629.
Can. 1629 There is no appeal:
1/ from a sentence of the Supreme Pontiff himself or the Apostolic Signatura;
2/ from a sentence tainted by a defect of nullity, unless the appeal is joined with a complaint of nullity according to the norm of can. 1625;
3/ from a sentence which has become a res iudicata;
4/ from a decree of a judge or from an interlocutory sentence which does not have the force of a definitive sentence, unless it is joined with an appeal from a definitive sentence;
5/ from a sentence or a decree in a case where the law requires the matter to be decided as promptly as possible (expeditissime).
Can. 1630 §1. An appeal must be introduced before the judge who rendered the sentence within the peremptory period of fifteen useful days from the notice of the publication of the sentence.
Can. 1631 If a question arises about the right to appeal, the appellate tribunal deals with it as promptly as possible (expeditissime) according to the norms of the oral contentious process.
Can. 1632 §1. If the appeal does not indicate the tribunal to which it is directed, it is presumed to be made to the tribunal mentioned in cann. 1438 and 1439.
Can. 1633 An appeal must be pursued before the appellate judge within a month from its introduction unless the judge from whom appeal is made has established a longer period for a party to pursue it.
Can. 1634 §1. To pursue an appeal it is required and suffices that a party calls upon the services of a higher judge for an emendation of the challenged sentence, attaches a copy of this sentence, and indicates the reasons for the appeal.
Can. 1635 Once the deadline for appeal has passed without action either before the judge from whom the appeal is made or before the appellate judge, the appeal is considered abandoned.
Can. 1636 §1. The appellant can renounce the appeal with the effects mentioned in can. 1525.
Can. 1637 §1. An appeal made by the petitioner also benefits the respondent and vice versa.
Can. 1638 An appeal suspends the execution of the sentence.
Can. 1639 §1. Without prejudice to the prescript of can. 1683, a new cause for petitioning cannot be admitted at the appellate grade, not even by way of useful accumulation; consequently, the joinder of the issue can only address whether the prior sentence is to be con-firmed or revised either totally or partially.
Can. 1640 The appellate grade must proceed in the same manner as first instance with appropriate adjustments; immediately after the issue has been joined according to the norm of can. 1513, §1 and can. 1639, §1 and unless the proofs possibly must be completed, the discussion of the case is to take place and the sentence rendered.
RES IUDICATA AND RESTITUTIO IN INTEGRUM (Cann. 1641 - 1648)
Can. 1641 Without prejudice to the prescript of can. 1643, a res iudicata occurs:
1/ if a second concordant sentence is rendered between the same parties over the same issue and on the same cause for petitioning;
2/ if an appeal against the sentence has not been introduced within the useful time;
3/ if at the appellate grade, the trial has been abated or renounced;
4/ if a definitive sentence has been rendered from which there is no appeal according to the norm of can. 1629.
Can. 1642 §1. A res iudicata possesses the stability of law and cannot be challenged directly except according to the norm of can. 1645, §1.
Can. 1644 §1. If a second concordant sentence has been rendered in a case concerning the status of persons, recourse can be made at any time to the appellate tribunal if new and grave proofs or arguments are brought forward within the peremptory time limit of thirty days from the proposed challenge. Within a month from when the new proofs and arguments are brought forward, however, the appellate tribunal must establish by decree whether a new presentation of the case must be admitted or not.
Can. 1645 §1. Restitutio in integrum is granted against a sentence which has become res iudicata provided that its injustice is clearly established.
1/ the sentence is based on proofs which afterwards are discovered to be false in such a way that without those proofs the dispositive part of the sentence is not sustained;
2/ documents have been revealed afterwards which undoubtedly prove new facts and demand a contrary decision;
3/ the sentence was rendered due to the malice of one party resulting in harm to the other party;
4/ a prescript of the law which is not merely procedural was clearly neglected;
5/ the sentence is contrary to a previous decision which has become res iudicata.
Can. 1646 §1. Restitutio in integrum for the reasons mentioned in can. 1645, §2, nn. 1-3 must be sought from the judge who rendered the sentence within three months computed from the day the person became aware of these same reasons.
§2. Restitutio in integrum for the reasons mentioned in can. 1645 §2, nn. 4 and 5 must be sought from the appellate tribunal within three months from the notice of the publication of the sentence; if in the case mentioned in can. 1645, §2, n. 5 notice of the previous decision occurs later, however, the time limit runs from this notice.
Can. 1647 §1. The petition for restitutio in integrum suspends the execution of a sentence if execution has not yet begun.
§2. If from probable indications there is a suspicion that a petition has been made in order to delay the execution, however, the judge can decree execution of the sentence, though with suitable guarantees to the one seeking the restitutio that there will be indemnity if the restitutio in integrum is granted.
Can. 1648 If restitutio in integrum is granted, the judge must pronounce on the merits of the case.
JUDICIAL EXPENSES AND GRATUITOUS LEGAL ASSISTANCE (Can. 1649)
Can. 1649 §1. The bishop who directs the tribunal is to establish norms concerning:
1/ the requirement of the parties to pay or compensate judicial expenses;
2/ the fees for the procurators, advocates, experts, and interpreters and the indemnity for the witnesses;
3/ the grant of gratuitous legal assistance or reduction of the expenses;
4/ the recovery of damages owed by a person who not only lost the trial but also entered into the litigation rashly;
5/ the deposit of money or the provision furnished for the payment of expenses and recovery of damages.
THE EXECUTION OF THE SENTENCE (Cann. 1650 - 1655)
Can. 1650 §1. A sentence that has become a res iudicata can be executed, without prejudice to the prescript of can.
Can. 1651 Execution cannot occur prior to the executory decree of the judge which declares that the sentence must be executed. This decree is to be included in the text of the sentence or issued separately according to the particular nature of the cases.
Can. 1652 If the execution of a sentence requires a prior rendering of accounts, it is an incidental question which the same judge who rendered the sentence ordering the execution must decide.
Can. 1653 §1. Unless particular law establishes otherwise, the bishop of the diocese in which the sentence was rendered in the first grade must execute the sentence personally or through another.
Can. 1654 §1. Unless the text of the sentence leaves it to the judgment of the executor, the executor must execute the sentence according to the obvious sense of the words.
Can. 1655 §1. In real actions, whenever the petitioner is awarded something, it must be handed over to the petitioner as soon as there is a res iudicata.
THE ORAL CONTENTIOUS PROCESS (Cann. 1656 - 1670)
Can. 1657 The oral contentious process takes place in the first grade before a single judge according to the norm of can. 1424.
Can. 1658 §1. In addition to the things enumerated in can. 1504, the libellus which introduces the litigation must:
Can. 1659 §1. If the attempt at reconciliation according to the norm of can. 1446, §2 proved useless and the judge thinks that the libellus has some foundation, the judge is to order within three days by a decree appended to the bottom of the libellus that a copy of the petition be communicated to the respondent, giving to the latter the opportunity to send a written response to the tribunal chancery within fifteen days.
Can. 1661 §1. When the time limits mentioned in cann. 1659 and 1660 have elapsed, the judge, after an examination of the acts, is to determine the formula of the doubt. Next, the judge is to cite all those who must take part to a hearing which must be held within thirty days; the formula of the doubt is to be attached to the citation of the parties.
Can. 1662 At the hearing the questions mentioned in cann. 1459-1464 are treated first.
Can. 1663 §1. The proofs are collected at the hearing without prejudice to the prescript of can. 1418.
Can. 1665 The judge can admit proofs which are not brought forth or sought in the petition or response only according to the norm of can. 1452. After even one witness has been heard, however, the judge can only decide about new proofs according to the norm of can. 1600.