Die Grundlagen der Rechtsquellen in der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland

Eine Übersicht

Abstract

There is no standardised Protestant doctrine of church law sources. Nevertheless, a distinction can be made between church constitutions, church laws, legal regulations, statutes and other legal sources. These form a hierarchy of norms. In addition to the 20 regional churches’ own norms, the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) has further regulations setting law for the regional churches in different ways. With respect to Protestant-Catholic ecumenism, there is, ecclesiologically, no positive ecumenical church law at present, but inter-church agreements and voluntary commitments exist.