A tri­bunal is an ecclesiastical court estab­lished in each dio­cese by the bishop to assist him in car­ry­ing out his respon­si­bil­ity as shep­herd of the local Chris­t­ian com­mu­nity which has been entrusted to him (cc.369, 1419 Code of Canon Law, 1983). As the judi­cial office of the bishop, the dioce­san tri­bunal coop­er­ates in his min­istry of fur­ther­ing the supreme law of the Church – the sal­va­tion of souls (c.1752).

Although most cases brought before the tri­bunal involve ques­tions of mar­i­tal nul­lity, the court also acts as the com­pe­tent forum for other issues.

Church law safe­guards the indis­sol­u­bil­ity of the sacra­ment of mar­riage. By law, a mar­riage is pre­sumed valid until estab­lished oth­er­wise by pos­i­tive proof (c.1060). A dec­la­ra­tion of inva­lid­ity is ren­dered when the mar­riage is deter­mined to be invalid. While the process is judi­cial, it is the com­mit­ment of the tri­bunal per­son­nel to demon­strate a pas­toral atti­tude and regard for those who sub­mit cases for adjudication.

[The Dio­cese of Stock­ton is a court for mar­riage cases within its ter­ri­tory.]