C A w 
t’ommencc’S immediately, without any lufpcnce of found 
“or interruption of time ; as foon as lie lias ended the firlt 
•couplet, which ought to ferve for the perpetual fubject 
upon which the whole canon has been conrppfed, the fe- 
cond part begins, and repeats the fame couplet, whilll the 
firlt who had begun purities the fecond : others in l'uccef- 
fion begin, and .proceed the fame way, as loon as he who 
. precedes has reached tire end of the firlt couplet. Thus, by 
incelfantly recommencing, an univerfal dole can never be 
found, 'and the canon may be repeated as long as the lin¬ 
gers pleafe. Italy is replete with molt beautiful canons, 
compoled by the befr matters in that country. We need on¬ 
ly fubjoin, that the 'Englilh catch and the Italian canon, are 
exaftly the fame thing. See the article Music. 
CA'NON,y. in geometry and algebra, a general rule 
for the folution of all cafes of a like nature witli the pre- 
fent enquiry. Thus, every lalt Itep of an equation is a ca¬ 
rton ; and, if turned into words, becomes a rule to folve 
all queltions of the fame nature with that propofed. 
C A'NON-LAW,y. A law or ordinance of the church; 
from the Greek word canon, a rule. The canon-law eon- 
-iilts partly of certain rules taken out of the fcripture; 
partly of the writings of .the ancient fathers of the church ; 
partly of the ordinances of general and provincial coun¬ 
cils ; and partly of the decrees of the popes in former ages. 
And it is contained in two principal parts, the decrees and 
the decretals: the decrees, are ecclelialtical conlfitutions 
made by the pope and cardinals, and were firlt gathered by 
Ivo, billiop of Carnat, who lived about the..year 1114, but 
afterwards perfected by Gratian, a Benedictine monk, in 
the year 1149, and allowed by pope Eugenius :o be read 
in fchools and alleged for law. They are the molt ancient, 
as having their beginning from the time of Conltantine the 
’Great, the firlt Chriflian emperor of Rome. The decre¬ 
tals are canonical epiltles written by the pope, or pope and 
cardinals, at the fuit of one or more perfons, for the order¬ 
ing and determining of fome matter of controverfy, and 
have the authority of a law ; and of thefe there are three 
volumes, the firlt whereof was compiled by Raynmndus 
Barcinius, chaplain to Gregory IX. and at his command, 
about the year 1231. The fecond volume is the wofk of 
Boniface VIII. collected in 1298. And the third volume, 
called the Clementines, was mad£ by pope Clement V. and 
pubiilhed by him in the council of Vienna, about the year 
1308. And to thefe may be added fome novel conftitu- 
tions of John XXII. and fome other bilhops of Rome. As 
the decrees let out t-he origin of the canon law, and the 
rights, dignities, and decrees, of ecclelialtical perfons, with 
their manner of election, ordination, See. fo the decretals 
contain the law to be ufed in the ecclefialiical courts ; and 
the firlt title in every one them, is the title of the Blefltid 
Trinity, and of the catholic faith, which is followed, w ith 
confutations and cultoms, judgments and determinations, 
in Rich matters and cawles as are liable to •ecclelialtical 
cognizance,' the lives and converfation of the clergy, of 
matrimony arid divorces, ihquifition of criminal matters, 
purgation, penance, excommunication, &c. But fome of 
the titles of the canon law are'now-out of ufe, and belong 
to the common law : and others are introduced, Rich as 
trials of wills, baltardy, defamation, &c. 
Trial of tithes were anciently in ail cafes had by the ee- 
clefialtical law ; though, at this time, this law only takes 
■place in fome particular cafes. By the canon laws "of this 
•kingdom, fiat. 25 Hen. VHI. c. 19. revived and confirm¬ 
ed by fiat. 1 Eliz. c. 1. it is declared, that all canons, not 
repugnant to the king’s prerogative, nor to the laws, (ta- 
tutes, and cultoms, of'the realm, (hall be trfed and exe¬ 
cuted. As for the canons enacted by the clergy under 
James 1 . in 1603, and never confirmed in parliament, it* 
has been folemnly adjudged, iipon the principles of law and 
c the confutation, that where they are not merely declara¬ 
tory of the ancient canon law, but are introductory of new 
-regulations, they do not bind the laity, whatever regard 
jfhc clergy may think proper to pay them. <S 'dra, 1057. 
'CAN 735 
Lord Hardwickc cites the opinon of lord Holt, and declares 
it is not denied by any one, that it is very plain all the 
clergy are bound by the canons, confirmed by the king 
only; but they mult be confirmed by-the parliament to 
bind tlie laity. 2 Aik. 605. Hence, il the archbifiiop of 
Canterbury grants a difpenfation to hold two ‘livings d-if- 
tinCt from each other more than thirty miles, no advan¬ 
tage can be taken of it by a lapfe, or otherwife in the tem¬ 
poral courts; for the reltriCtion to thirty miles was intro¬ 
duced by a canon made fince the fiat. 25 Hen. V 11 li 
2 Black. Rep: 968. 
There are four fpecies of courts in which the canon-laws 
are permitted under different reltriCtions to be ufed. 1. The 
courts of the archbilhops and bithops, and their derivative 
officers; ufually called in our law-courts Chriftian, or the 
ecclefialiical courts. 2. The mililtary courts, or courts 
of chivalry. 3. The courts of admiralty. 4. The courts 
of the two univerfities. In all, the reception of thofe laws 
in general, and the different degrees of that reception, are 
grounded entirely upon cullom ; corroborated as to the 
univerfities by a6t of parliament, ratifying thofe charters 
which confirm their cuftomary laws. Thefe are all fub¬ 
ject to the following particulars : 1. The courts of com¬ 
mon law, have the fuperintendency over thefe courts; to 
keep them within their jurifdiclions, to determine where¬ 
in they exceed them, to reftrain and prohibit fuch excels; 
and, in cafeof contumacy, to punifii the officer- who exe¬ 
cutes, and in fome cafes the judge who enforces, tire fen- 
tcnce fo declared to be illegal. 2. The common law lias 
relerved to itfelf the expolition of all fuch fiatutes, as con¬ 
cern either the extent of thefe courts, or the matters de¬ 
pending before them. And, therefore, if thefe courts ei¬ 
ther refufe to allow thofe adits of parliament, or will ex¬ 
pound them in any other fenfe than what the law puts on 
them, the courts at Weftminfter will grant prohibitions to 
reftrain and confront them. 3. An appeal lies from all 
thefe courts to the king in the lalt refort ; which proves 
that the jurifdidtion cxercifed in them, is derived from 
tin? crown of England, and not from any foreign poten¬ 
tate, or intrinfic authority of their own. From thefe three 
ftrong marks and enfigns of fuperiority, it appears beyond 
a doubt that the canen (and civil) laws, though admitted 
in fome cafes, by cuftom in fome courts, are only fubordi- 
nate, SB legesfub graviore lege ; and, that thus admitted, 
reltrained, altered, new-modelled, and amended, they are 
by no means a diftmdt independent fpecies of laws, but in¬ 
inferior branches of the cuftomary or unwritten laws of 
England, properly called the king’s ecclelialtical, miiita- 
1 y, maritime, or academical, laws, 1 Comm. 84. 
CA'lMONESS,yi in the Romilh church, a woman who 
enjoys a prebend affixed, by foundation, to maids, with¬ 
out their being obliged to renounce the world or make 
any vows. 
CANONGO'ES, in Bengal, are the regifters of land 
and hereditary expounders of the ufages of the country, 
'I hey have their officers and deputies every where ; they 
are not liable to removal ; and all papers attefted by them 
are received as authentic and decilive, and in all difputes 
relative to lands and their boundaries. See Sir Charles 
Roufe Boughton on the Landed Property of Bengal. 
CANO'NICA, an appellation given by Epicurus to 
his doctrine of logic. It was called ccnonlca, as confiding 
of a few canons or rules for directing the underltandirtg in 
the purfuit and knowledge of truth. Epicurus’s canonica 
is reprelented as a very flight and infufficient logic by fe- 
veral of the ancients, who put a great value on his ethics 
and phyfics. Laertius even allures us that the Epicureans 
■rejected logic as a fuperfluotts fcience ; and Plutarch com¬ 
plains that Epicurus made an unlkilful and prepolterous 
ufe of fyllogifms. But thefe cenfures feem too fev^re. 
Epicurus was not ayerfe to the ftudy of logic, but even 
gave better rules in this art than thofe philosophers who 
aimed at no glory but that of logics. He only feeins to 
have rejected the dialectics of the Holes, as full of vain 
