Short considerations regarding to the relation between law and religion

• Author: Diana Cirmaciu - Mihaela Teaca
• Position: Lecturer, Oradea University, Law Faculty - Teaching assistant, Oradea University, Law Faculty
• Pages: 276-278

SHORT CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING TO THE RELATION BETWEEN LA W AND RELIGION

Cîrmaciu Diana,

Teac Mihaela

Abstract

„Jurisprudentia est divinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia atque injusti scientia” – Ulpianus.

The rela tion between la w and religion got different connotations a long the years, ta king into

considera tion the fact that a lot of people who a re preoccupied with the sphere of law and politics ar e having

connections with religion too.

Key-words: law, religion, judicia l education.

Introduction

The presence of r eligion in the Romanian system of law is a n act of rig hts, based on our culture a nd a

permanent necessity in the complex process of the development of society based on moral pr inciples. The notions

„law” and „religion” are revealing two complex aspects of life, which h ave often intersected in history, but even

in our contemporar y perio d. Both of them have contributed to the formation of the identity of a nation, to the

legitimacy of power a nd to the regulation of our society. Law without religion would degenera te into a mechanic

legal system. Religion without law would lose its social essence

1.

It is necessary for us to accentuate the role of the Church in creating, keeping and transmitting national

values of spiritual, moral a nd cultural character. We must not forget that until the moment of the adoption of the

Law of Public Instructions (25 November / 7 December 1864), the Romanian educational system had developed

its activity exclusively in the frame of the Church2.

Even the definition given by Ulpianus, which considered law to represent three precepts “to live

honestly, not to cause for others harm and to give everyone what he owns” 3, indicates a relation with religion and

morality, because not only by the legal norms but also through religion we are proposed (or in most of the cases

assessed) viable models of goodness a nd holiness, valuable marks in life and society. Reli gion and law represent

factors of stability and communion in the Romanian society, a holy and steady inspiration source to protect and

promote values like: life, propriety, freedom, dignity, and honor.

“Everywhere where law appears for the first time in history, we can find it with an other power, which

offers the stamp a more majestic consecration, it extorts from the vicissitudes, from the interests and

opportunities, the critics of rationality and the arbitrator of p ure power and it places it to a distance, which cannot

be reached and which causes the birth of respect”.4 There was no place where law was born with this lay

physiognomy which it presents today in every society; the a uthority which is represented by he judicial order has

its basis in the divine origin which is gi ven by the governors to the rules of law and in the sacred character

offered by the obedient people towards law, which deli mits their freedom. T he explication is that the primitive

nations, but even those civilized are obeying to the rules of law when they believe in their beyond human origins.

Eugeniu Sperantia, former University P rofessor by the Law Academy “Car ol the 2nd” from Oradea and

by the Fac ulty of Law from Dacia Superioar University from Cluj-Napoca, published in 1936 a work entitled

Lessons of Judicial Encyclopedia with a Histor ical Introduction in the Philosop hy of Law. It is a referential work

in the domain of law philosop hy which treats from a historical point of view the evol ution of low i n the prism of

religion, especiall y concentrating on the research of the Chri stian period and on the beginning of t he

Renaissance. Sperantia, analyzing the work of Saint Augustin, pointed out the work „De civitate Dei”. It is a

complex work, structured im twentu t wo books, from which the last twelve are debating the relation between the

earthly fortress and the fortr ess of God, showing that even the state is stricken by the original sin, having born

form crime (Cain and Romulus), needing this way the protection of the Church. As a consequence it i s

considered that la w and jus tice can exist on eart h only in the measure when the earthly state subordinated itsel f

to the Church.5 The ideas of Saint Augustin were adopted b y the oriental nations and even by the b arbarian lately

Christianized nations. The accumulation o f heritage in the hands of the Church and of the priests has lead to a

change of perception of the Church and its role by the state . The followers o f Saint Augustin, Thomas Becket,

 Lecturer, Oradea University, Law Faculty, e-mail:diana.cirmaciu@rdslink.ro

 Teaching assistant, Oradea University, Law Faculty, e-mail: mihaela.teaca@yahoo.com

1 T. L. Fort, Law and religion, Mc Farland and Co Inc. Pub. Jefferson, North Carolina, 1987, p. 11.

2 We are considering statistics mostly regarding to primary, gymnasium and lyceum education.

3 „Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere, alter um non laedere, suum cuique tribuere”. Practically, according to some oppinions, in the

definition given by Ulpianus for a moral principle are being attached two judicial principles, because not to cause harm to others and to give

everyone what he owns are principles of law and to live honestly is a moral principle.

4 Ihering, Esprit du droit romain, translation from French, Bucharest, 1982, p. 266.

5 Eugeniu Sperania, Leciuni de Enciclopedie Juridic cu o Introducere Istoric în Filosofia Dreptului, Cluj-Napoca, Tipografia Cartea

Româneasc, 1936, p. 121.