Criminal Prosecution of the Dead Person for the Delinquency of Heresy in the Historical Canon Law

Abstract

In the history of law we find a lot of the institutions or procedures, which are considered from the contemporary point of view to be not only obsolete, but often even incomprehensible. In such a way we may look upon the practice of the prosecution of the dead persons that were posthumously accused of various delinquencies, what is, with reference to the impossibility to defend themselves, in harsh conflict with basic legal standards. In canon law this procedure was utilized while eliminating the crime of heresy endangering not only the salvation of souls of the believers, but also social structure. The main goal of the article is to characterize the mentioned delinquency in historical canon, as well as secular law, explain its perception by then society, including the specification of procedures applied against dead persons, namely by the representatives of the inquisition (not omitting Spanish).