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Introduction
The Second Vatican Council counted the right to a good reputation among those inviolable rights common to all people by virtue of the "extraordinary dignity which belongs to the human person."(1) Following the direction of the council, the 1983 Code of Canon Law incorporated the same right among those it recognized as common to all the Christian faithful.(2) At the same time, the new Latin Code provided for the legitimate protection of the right by use of the administrative or judicial forum for its vindication and defense.(3) The Code further stipulated that the outcome of either process could result in the imposition of penalties against those who violated the right of others to a good reputation, as well as the awarding of damages to those whose good name had been injured.(4)
The recognition of a natural right to a good reputation, and of legitimate means by which to defend and vindicate it did not originate with the codified system of ecclesiastical law.(5) The right and its defense enjoy a long history in the annals of jurisprudence, from the time of the ancient Roman texts,(6) through the Corpus Iuris Canonici,(7) to the statutes of the former and current Codes. Jurisprudence arising out of the codified ecclesiastical law has also consistently recognized the natural character of the right to a good reputation, and the legitimate means available to protect and defend it.(8) This holds true particularly for the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota. Since its reconstitution in 1908, the Apostolic Tribunal has provided a wealth of jurisprudence on defamation of character lawsuits, both criminal and contentious.(9)
Since the promulgation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the use of the administrative forum has become a common, if not favored means of vindicating the right to a good reputation.(10) All the same, judicial remedy remains a viable option for recovery of the right under the current law. This is so whether the action is a criminal process for the imposition of penalties, or a contentious one for the recovery of damages. In either case, the pursuit of judicial relief presupposes a thorough familiarity with the jurisprudence of the Roman Rota and general canonical doctrine on the nature and vindication of the right itself.(11)
Accordingly, this...