Sui iuris

Sui iuris (ˈsu:aɪ_ˈdʒʊərɪs or ˈsu:i_ˈjurɪs) also spelled sui juris, is a Latin phrase that literally means "of one's own right". It is used in both secular law and the Catholic Church's canon law. The term church sui iuris is used in the Catholic Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO) to denote the autonomous churches in Catholic communion. The Catholic Church consists of 24 churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic churches. The Latin sui iuris (the individual words meaning 'self' and 'law') corresponds to the Greek 'αὐτόνομος', from which the English word autonomy is derived. The spelling in Classical Latin is sui iuris and in Medieval Latin sui juris. English Law gets the term from Medieval Latin, and so spells it sui juris. English-speaking lawyers pronounce the phrase as if it were English: the "i" of "sui" rhymes with the English word "eye", and the first syllable of "juris" is pronounced like the English word "Jew": ˈsu:aɪ_ˈdʒʊərɪs. Catholic Canon Law prefers the classical spelling sui iuris; it is pronounced as in Italian: ˈsu:i_ˈjurɪs. In civil law, the phrase sui juris indicates legal competence, and refers to an adult who has the capacity to manage his or her own affairs. It is opposed to alieni juris, meaning one such as a minor or mentally disabled person who is legally incompetent and under the control of another. It also indicates a person capable of suing and/or being sued in a legal proceeding in his own name (in personam) without the need of an ad litem, that is, a court appointed representative, acting on behalf of a defendant, who is deemed to be incapable of representing himself. Church documents such as the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches apply the Latin term sui iuris to the particular Churches that are together the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church and those in communion with it. A church sui iuris is "a community of the Christian faithful, which is joined together by a hierarchy according to the norm of law and which is expressly or tacitly recognized as sui iuris by the supreme authority of the Church" (CCEO.