Ecclesiastical crime
An ecclesiastical crime is a crime (delictum) related to the clergy where the crime is against canon law vis-à-vis civil law.
The crime of simony is the ecclesiastical crime of paying for offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church. The crimes of schism and heresy are also ecclesiastical crimes.
Older examples include "perjury", the breaking of a promissory oath (contractual promises made by oath or pledge of faith), and this was treated as an ecclesiastical crime. Some crimes have or have had both an ecclesiastical and a civil element to the crime; suicide and witches are counted here.
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