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Processes » Trials in General » Different Grades and Kinds of Tribunals » The tribunal of the first instance » The judge
Canon 1419.	§1 In each diocese and for all cases which are not expressly excepted in law, the judge of first instance is the diocesan Bishop. He can exercise his judicial power either personally or through others, in accordance with the following canons. §2 If the case concerns the rights or temporal goods of a juridical person represented by the Bishop, the appeal tribunal is to judge in first instance.
Canon 1420.	§1 Each diocesan Bishop is obliged to appoint a judicial Vicar, or ‘Officialis’, with ordinary power to judge. The judicial Vicar is to be a person distinct from the Vicar general, unless the smallness of the diocese or the limited number of cases suggests otherwise. §2 The judicial Vicar constitutes one tribunal with the Bishop, but cannot judge cases which the Bishop reserves to himself. §3 The judicial Vicar can be given assistants, who are called associate judicial Vicars or ‘Vice-officiales’. §4 The judicial Vicar and the associate judicial Vicars must be priests of good repute, with a doctorate or at least a licentiate in canon law, and not less than thirty years of age. §5 When the see is vacant, they do not cease from office, nor can they be removed by the diocesan Administrator. On the coming of the new Bishop, however, they need to be confirmed in office.
Canon 1421.	§1 In each diocese the Bishop is to appoint diocesan judges, who are to be clerics. §2 The Episcopal Conference can permit that lay persons also be appointed judges. Where necessity suggests, one of these can be chosen in forming a college of Judges. §3 Judges are to be of good repute, and possess a doctorate, or at least a licentiate, in canon law.
Canon 1422.	The judicial Vicar, the associate judicial Vicars and the other judges are appointed for a specified period of time, without prejudice to the provision of can. 1420 §5. They cannot be removed from office except for a lawful and grave reason.
Canon 1423.	§1 With the approval of the Apostolic See, several diocesan Bishops can agree to establish one tribunal of first instance in their dioceses, in place of the diocesan tribunals mentioned in can. 1419-1421. In this case the group of Bishops, or a Bishop designated by them, has all the powers which the diocesan Bishop has for his tribunal. §2 The tribunals mentioned in §1 can be established for all cases, or for some types of cases only.
Canon 1424.	In any trial a sole judge can associate with himself two assessors as advisers; they may be clerics or lay persons of good repute.
Canon 1425.	§1 The following matters are reserved to a collegiate tribunal of three judges, any contrary custom being reprobated: 1° contentious cases: a) concerning the bond of sacred ordination; b) concerning the bond of marriage, without prejudice to the provisions of cann. 1686 and 1688; 2° penal cases: a) for offences which can carry the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state; b) concerning the imposition or declaration of an excommunication. §2 The Bishop can entrust the more difficult cases or those of greater importance to the judgement of three or of five judges. §3 The judicial Vicar is to assign judges in order by rotation to hear the individual cases, unless in particular cases the Bishop has decided otherwise. §4 In a trial at first instance, if it should happen that it is impossible to constitute a college of judges, the Episcopal Conference can for as long as the impossibility persists, permit the Bishop to entrust cases to a sole clerical judge. Where possible, the sole judge is to associate with himself an assessor and an auditor. §5 Once judges have been designated, the judicial Vicar is not to replace them, except for a very grave reason, which must be expressed in a decree.
Canon 1426.	§1 A collegiate tribunal must proceed in a collegiate fashion and give its judgement by majority vote. §2 As far as possible, the judicial Vicar or an associate judicial Vicar must preside over the collegiate tribunal.
Canon 1427.	§1 If there is a controversy between religious, or houses of the same clerical religious institute of pontifical right, the judge at first instance, unless the constitutions provide otherwise, is the provincial Superior or, if an autonomous monastery is concerned, the local Abbot. §2 Without prejudice to a different provision in the constitutions, when a contentious matter arises between two provinces, the supreme Moderator, either personally or through a delegate, will be the judge at first instance. If the controversy is between two monasteries, the Abbot superior of the monastic congregation will be the judge. §3 Finally, if a controversy arises between physical or juridical persons of different religious institutes or even of the same clerical institute of diocesan right or of the same lay institute, or between a religious person and a secular cleric or a lay person or a non-religious juridical person, it is the diocesan tribunal which judges at first instance.
Processes » Trials in General » Different Grades and Kinds of Tribunals » The tribunal of the first instance » Auditors and relators
Canon 1428.	§1 The judge or, in the case of a collegiate tribunal, the presiding judge, can designate an auditor to instruct the case. The auditor may be chosen from the tribunal judges, or from persons approved by the Bishop for this office. §2 The Bishop can approve clerics or lay persons for the role of auditor. They are to be persons conspicuous for their good conduct, prudence and learning. §3 The task of the auditor is solely to gather the evidence in accordance with the judge’s commission and, when gathered, to submit it to the judge. Unless the judge determines otherwise, however, an auditor can in the meantime decide what evidence is to be collected and the manner of its collection, should any question arise about these matters while the auditor is carrying out his role.
Canon 1429.	The presiding judge of a collegiate tribunal is to designate one of the judges of the college as ‘ponens’ or ‘relator’. This person is to present the case at the meeting of the judges and set out the judgement in writing. For a just reason the presiding judge can substitute another person in the place of the ‘ponens’.
Processes » Trials in General » Different Grades and Kinds of Tribunals » The tribunal of the first instance » The promoter of justice, the defender of the bond, and the notary
Canon 1430.	A promotor of justice is to be appointed in the diocese for penal cases, and for contentious cases in which the public good may be at stake. The promotor is bound by office to safeguard the public good.
Canon 1431.	§1 In contentious cases it is for the diocesan Bishop to decide whether the public good is at stake or not, unless the law prescribes the intervention of the promotor of justice, or this is clearly necessary from the nature of things. §2 If the promotor of justice has intervened at an earlier instance of a trial, this intervention is presumed to be necessary at a subsequent instance.
Canon 1432.	A defender of the bond is to be appointed in the diocese for cases which deal with the nullity of ordination or the nullity or dissolution of marriage. The defender of the bond is bound by office to present and expound all that can reasonably be argued against the nullity or dissolution.
Canon 1433.	In cases in which the presence of the promotor of justice or of the defender of the bond is required, the acts are invalid if they were not summoned. This does not apply if, although not summoned, they were in fact present or, having studied the acts, able to fulfil their role at least before the judgement.
Canon 1434.	Unless otherwise expressly provided: 1° whenever the law directs that the judge is to hear the parties or either of them, the promotor of justice and the defender of the bond are also to be heard if they are present; 2° whenever, at the submission of a party, the judge is required to decide some matter, the submission of the promotor of justice or of the defender of the bond engaged in the trial has equal weight.
Canon 1435.	It is the Bishop’s responsibility to appoint the promotor of justice and defender of the bond. They are to be clerics or lay persons of good repute, with a doctorate or a licentiate in canon law, and of proven prudence and zeal for justice.
Canon 1436.	§1 The same person can hold the office of promotor of justice and defender of the bond, although not in the same case. §2 The promotor of justice and the defender of the bond can be appointed for all cases, or for individual cases. They can be removed by the Bishop for a just reason.
Canon 1437.	§1 A notary is to be present at every hearing, so much so that the acts are null unless signed by the notary. §2 Acts drawn up by notaries constitute public proof.

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