Canonical Domicile

A person acquires domicile by residence within a parish or at least a diocese together with the intention of remaining permanently unless called away, or by actual residence there for five complete years. Domicile is lost by leaving with the intention not to return. The canonical test is therefore not identical to civil registration, citizenship, property ownership, or the address used for taxation.

A parochial domicile lies within a parish; a merely diocesan domicile lies within a diocese but not a parish. The place of origin assigned by canon 101 is another concept and need not remain a person's present domicile.

Quasi-domicile arises from residence with the intention of remaining at least three months unless called away, or from three months of actual residence. Both domicile and quasi-domicile establish a proper pastor and ordinary. A person with neither is a transient; the pastor and ordinary of the place of actual residence are then proper under canon 107.

Spouses are to have a common domicile or quasi-domicile, but each may have a separate one because of legitimate separation or another just cause. Minors and persons under guardianship ordinarily follow the domicile of the person whose authority or care they are under, with the specific exceptions in canon 105. Members of religious institutes and societies acquire domicile at the house to which they are attached.

Eastern canon 916 preserves enrollment in a Church sui iuris when identifying the proper pastor and hierarch. It also supplies specific rules when the faithful of that Church lack their own pastor, exarchy, or eparchy in the place. Territorial residence does not erase that personal ecclesial bond.^[2]

Domicile and quasi-domicile help determine competent pastors, ordinaries, and tribunals and therefore affect permissions, dispensations, investigations, and other acts of governance. They do not by themselves enroll a Catholic in another Church sui iuris, create parish membership contrary to personal jurisdiction, or replace the special forum and competence rules governing a particular matter.