Talk:Canon (canon law)

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WP:FORK violation?

On the surface at least, it seems we have two articles about the same thing: Canon (canon law) and Canon law. It looks like an obvious WP:FORK violation. Is there a convincing reason not to merge them? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 23:34, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

@John Maynard Friedman: it is not the same topic. To put it simply, canon law is not constituted only of canons. Veverve (talk) 23:35, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm afraid you need to elaborate. The articles seem very similar in content. Also, I see that Canon (law) redirects to Canon law. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 23:39, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

@John Maynard Friedman: A canon is a name given to some specific legal decisions or guidelines which constitute part of canon law. However, the rest of canon law can include other laws which are not called "canons"; for example, an apostolic constitution or a tomos are not canons, and are part of the "set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (Church leadership), for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members" (Canon law). See for more details the sections Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church#Sources and Jurisprudence of Catholic canon law#Sources of law.

As for the redirect, I think it has the same utility redirecting to Canon law or to Canon (canon law). Veverve (talk) 23:49, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Again, I have tried to give you a general explanation without giving too much details. Veverve (talk) 23:52, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Ok, I think I get it: Canon law contains Canon (canon law)s and also non-canonical ordinances? [don't tell me, I bet 'ordinance' has a special meaning too?]

Maybe you could improve the lead sections of both article to make that clearer. Also, I came here from trying to improve the quality of the descriptions at Canon (disambiguation), where the distinction is also vague. Maybe you could improve? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 00:17, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

@John Maynard Friedman: 'ordinance' can have a special meaning, and so does 'canonical'. In canon law, 'canonial' either means "what refers to canon law" or "what complies, is in accordance with canon law". For example, here the writer wants to say Patriarch Theodoros does not comply with Eastern Orthodox canon law: "the Russian Church expressed 'deep sorrow over the uncanonical actions of Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria who had entered into communion with schismatics.' " (source, my emphasis). So, canon law contains every law which relates to the governance of a church, be those legislations called "canons" or any other name.

I have tried to improve the DAB. As for the ledes, I do not see any problem with them, but I am probably too familiar with those topics to notice if there is a problem. What do you feel should be changed in those ledes? Veverve (talk) 00:34, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Really only that they seem to be the same or very similar, which is what made me suspect a fork. My concern may be misplaced as I have no familiarity whatever with these concepts and a more typical reader would come with some contextual 'priming'.

Regarding "ordinance", well I nearly wrote "ordnance", which is quite a bit different :-D --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 00:52, 16 January 2022 (UTC)