Canon LIX. (Greek
lxiii.)
That clerics be not compelled to give testimony in
public concerning the cognizance of their own judgment.
should be petitioned also
that they deign to decree, that if perchance any shall have been
willing to plead their cause in any church according to the Apostolic
law imposed upon the Churches, and it happens that the decision of the
clergy does not satisfy one of the parties, it be not lawful to summon
that clergyman who had been cognitor or present, into judgment as a witness, and that no person attached to any ecclesiastic be compelled to give testimony.
Notes.
A cleric who has decided a case shall not, if it be
displeasing, be summoned to a tribunal to give evidence concerning it; and no ecclesiastical person shall be forced to give testimony.
This is Canon iij. of the Synod of Carthage, June 15 (or
16). 401.
“According to the Apostolic law,” viz., that
of St. Paul, 1 Cor. vi. 1, 2, etc. I follow the Greek scholia in rendering this canon. In Latin cognitor is he that is solicitor, or advocate, rather than the judge who takes cognizance.