Canon 1501. A judge cannot investigate any case unless a plea, drawn up in accordance with canon law, is submitted either by a person whose interest is involved, or by the promotor of justice.

Iudex nullam causam cognoscere potest, nisi petitio, ad normam canonum, proposita sit ab eo cuius interest, vel a promotore iustitiae.

Canon 1502. A person who wishes to sue another must present a petition to a judge who is lawfully competent. In this petition the matter in dispute is to be set out and the intervention of the judge requested.

Qui aliquem convenire vult, debet libellum competenti iudici exhibere, in quo controversiae obiectum proponatur, et ministerium iudicis expostuletur.

Canon 1503. §1 A judge can admit an oral plea whenever the plaintiff is impeded from presenting a petition or when the case can be easily investigated and is of minor significance.

§2 In both cases, however, the judge is to direct a notary to record the matter in writing. This written record is to be read to, and approved by, the plaintiff, and it takes the place of a petition written by the plaintiff as far as all effects of law are concerned.

§1. Petitionem oralem iudex admittere potest, quoties vel actor libellum exhibere impediatur vel causa sit facilis investigationis et minoris momenti.

§2. In utroque tamen casu iudex notarium iubeat scriptis actum redigere qui actori legendus est et ab eo probandus, quique locum tenet libelli ab actore scripti ad omnes iuris effectus.

Canon 1504. The petition by which a suit is introduced must:

1° state the judge before whom the case is being introduced, what is being sought and from whom it is being sought;

2° indicate on what right the plaintiff bases the case and, at least in general terms, the facts and evidence to be submitted in support of the allegations made;

3° be signed by the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s procurator, and bear the day, the month and the year, as well as the address at which the plaintiff or the procurator resides, or at which they say they reside for the purpose of receiving the acts;

4° indicate the domicile or quasi-domicile of the respondent.

Libellus, quo lis introducitur, debet:

1° exprimere coram quo iudice causa introducatur, quid petatur et a quo petatur;

2° indicare quo iure innitatur actor et generatim saltem quibus factis et probationibus ad evincenda ea quae asseruntur;

3° subscribi ab actore vel eius procuratore, appositis die, mense et anno, necnon loco in quo actor vel eius procurator habitant, aut residere se dixerint actorum recipiendorum gratia;

4° indicare domicilium vel quasi-domicilium partis conventae.

Canon 1505. §1 Once he has satisfied himself that the matter is within his competence and the plaintiff has the right to stand before the court, the sole judge, or the presiding judge of a collegiate tribunal, must as soon as possible by his decree either admit or reject the petition.

§2 A petition can be rejected only if:

1° the judge or the tribunal is not legally competent;

2° it is established beyond doubt that the plaintiff lacks the right to stand before the court;

3° the provisions of can. 1504 nn. 1-3 have not been observed

4° it is certainly clear from the petition that the plea lacks any foundation, and that there is no possibility that a foundation will emerge from a process.

§3 If a petition has been rejected by reason of defects which can be corrected, the plaintiff can draw up a new petition correctly and present it again to the same judge.

§4 A party is always entitled, within ten canonical days, to have recourse, based upon stated reasons, against the rejection of a petition. This recourse is to be made either to the tribunal of appeal or, if the petition was rejected by the presiding judge, to the collegiate tribunal. A question of rejection is to be determined with maximum expedition.

§1. Iudex unicus vel tribunalis collegialis praeses, postquam viderint et rem esse suae competentiae et actori legitimam personam standi in iudicio non deesse, debent suo decreto quam primum libellum aut admittere aut reicere.

§2. Libellus reici potest tantum:

1° si iudex vel tribunal incompetens sit;

2° si sine dubio constet actori legitimam deesse personam standi in iudicio;

3° si non servata sint praescripta can. 1504, nn. 1-3;

4° si certo pateat ex ipso libello petitionem quolibet carere fundamento, neque fieri posse, ut aliquod ex processu fundamentum appareat.

§3. Si libellus reiectus fuerit ob vitia quae emendari possunt, actor novum libellum rite confectum potest eidem iudici denuo exhibere.

§4. Adversus libelli reiectionem integrum semper est parti intra tempus utile decem dierum recursum rationibus suffultum interponere vel ad tribunal appellationis vel ad collegium, si libellus reiectus fuerit a praeside; quaestio autem reiectionis expeditissime definienda est.

Canon 1506. If within a month of the presentation of a petition, the judge has not issued a decree admitting or rejecting it in accordance with can. 1505, the interested party can insist that the judge perform his duty. If, notwithstanding this, the judge does not respond within ten days of the party’s request, the petition is to be taken as having been admitted.

Si iudex intra mensem ab exhibito libello decretum non ediderit, quo libellum admittit vel reicit ad normam can. 1505, pars, cuius interest, instare potest ut iudex suo munere fungatur; quod si nihilominus iudex sileat, inutiliter lapsis decem diebus a facta instantia, libellus pro admisso habeatur.

Canon 1507. §1 In the decree by which a plaintiff’s petition is admitted, the judge or the presiding judge must call or summon the other parties to court to effect the joinder of the issue; he must prescribe whether, in order to agree the point at issue, they are to reply in writing or to appear before him. If, from their written replies, he perceives the need to convene the parties, he can determine this by a new decree.

§2 If a petition is deemed admitted in accordance with the provisions of can. 1506, the decree of summons to the trial must be issued within twenty days of the request of which that canon speaks.

§3 If the litigants in fact present themselves before the judge to pursue the case, there is no need for a summons; the notary, however, is to record in the acts that the parties were present at the trial.

§1. In decreto, quo actoris libellus admittitur, debet iudex vel praeses ceteras partes in iudicium vocare seu citare ad litem contestandam, statuens utrum eae scripto respondere debeant an coram ipso se sistere ad dubia concordanda. Quod si ex scriptis responsionibus perspiciat necessitatem partes convocandi, id potest novo decreto statuere.

§2. Si libellus pro admisso habetur ad normam can. 1506, decretum citationis in iudicium fieri debet intra viginti dies a facta instantia, de qua in eo canone.

§3. Quod si partes litigantes de facto coram iudice se sistant ad causam agendam, opus non est citatione, sed actuarius significet in actis partes iudicio adfuisse.

Canon 1508. §1 The decree of summons to the trial must be notified at once to the respondent, and at the same time to any others who are obliged to appear.

§2 The petition introducing the suit is to be attached to the summons, unless for grave reasons the judge considers that the petition is not to be communicated to the other party before he or she gives evidence.

§3 If a suit is brought against a person who does not have the free exercise of personal rights, or the free administration of the matters in dispute, the summons is to be notified to, as the case may be, the guardian, the curator, the special procurator, or the one who according to law is obliged to undertake legal proceedings in the name of such a person.

§1. Decretum citationis in iudicium debet statim parti conventae notificari, et simul ceteris, qui comparere debent, notum fieri.

§2. Citationi libellus litis introductorius adiungatur, nisi iudex propter graves causas censeat libellum significandum non esse parti, antequam haec deposuerit in iudicio.

§3. Si lis moveatur adversus eum qui non habet liberum exercitium suorum iurium, vel liberam administrationem rerum de quibus disceptatur, citatio denuntianda est, prout casus ferat, tutori, curatori, procuratori speciali, seu ei qui ipsius nomine iudicium suscipere tenetur ad normam iuris.

Canon 1509. §1 With due regard to the norms laid down by particular law, the notification of summonses, decrees, judgements and other judicial acts is to be done by means of the public postal service, or by some other particularly secure means.

§2 The fact and the manner of notification must be shown in the acts.

§1. Citationum, decretorum, sententiarum aliorumque iudicialium actorum notificatio facienda est per publicos tabellarios vel alio modo qui tutissimus sit, servatis normis lege particulari statutis.

§2. De facto notificationis et de eius modo constare debet in actis.

Canon 1510. A respondent who refuses to accept a document of summons, or who circumvents the delivery of a summons, is to be regarded as lawfully summoned.

Conventus, qui citatoriam schedam recipere recuset, vel qui impedit quominus citatio ad se perveniat, legitime citatus habeatur.

Canon 1511. Without prejudice to the provision of can. 1507 §3, if a summons has not been lawfully communicated, the acts of the process are null.

Si citatio non fuerit legitime notificata, nulla sunt acta processus, salvo praescripto can. 1507, §3.

Canon 1512. Once a summons has been lawfully communicated, or the parties have presented themselves before a judge to pursue the case:

1° the matter ceases to be a neutral one;

2° the case becomes that of the judge or of the tribunal, in other respects lawfully competent, before whom the action was brought;

3° the jurisdiction of a delegated judge is established in such a way that it does not lapse on the expiry of the authority of the person who delegated;

4° prescription is interrupted, unless otherwise provided;

5° the suit begins to be a pending one, and therefore the principle immediately applies ‘while a suit is pending, no new element is to be introduced’.

Cum citatio legitime notificata fuerit aut partes coram iudice steterint ad causam agendam:

1° res desinit esse integra;

2° causa fit propria illius iudicis aut tribunalis ceteroquin competentis, coram quo actio instituta est;

3° in iudice delegato firma redditur iurisdictio, ita ut non expiret resoluto iure delegantis;

4° interrumpitur praescriptio, nisi aliud cautum sit;

5° lis pendere incipit; et ideo statim locum habet principium "lite pendente, nihil innovetur".