Mons. Velasio De Paolis, c. s., is President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See and Secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature. Professor emeritus of Canon law at Urbaniana and Gregoriana Pontifical Universities, and consultor of many Vatican Dicasteries. He is the author of almost 200 titles (articles, books, manuals). On occasion of his 70th birthday, the  miscellanea volume – Iustitia in caritate - has ben published in his honour (Urbaniana University Press, 2005).

Andrea D’Auria, Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, is professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical Urbaniana  University and at the Pontifical International Theological Institute for Marriage and Family in Gaming (Austria). He is also an external judge at the Interregional Ecclesiastical Court of first instance of Rome’s Vicariate and consultor of De Propaganda Fide Congregation. He published for Urbaniana University Press: Il timore grave nell’attuale legislazione canonica, 2003; Inganno, frode, deliberazione. Il dolo nell’attuale Codice di Diritto Canonico, 2004.

The volume proposes an useful introduction to the critical study of the General Norms of the Code of Canon Law. The authors assist the reader in understanding the juridical themes exposed in the first book of Code: ecclesiastical law, singular administrative acts and Church governance, Canon Law subjects and their juridical activity, and ecclesiastical offices. The doctrinal treatment and bibliography refer both to modern authors and well-established law tradition. The work also deals with issues contextualizing law teaching in the present time.