Law cannot, and should not, define the Episcopal Church. Yet neither is it an embarrassment to be shunned, forgotten or ignored. We, as thoughtful adults and faithful Christians, should recognize ecclesiastical law's contribution to the life of the church.

The Episcopal Church is heir to two remarkable traditions in its law as in its liturgy: the pre-Reformation Roman, and the post-Reformation English. No other American church can make such a claim for its canonical framework. While our legal structure is not so detailed as Rome's, nor complex as Canterbury's, it carries behind it generations of sophisticated and scholarly thought dating back to the Nicene canons, and progressing through Gratian, Hooker, and a crowd of forgotten ecclesiastical lawyers.

Today, while canons are still amended, and chancellors still diligently advise their dioceses, our legal tradition is enervated and needs revival. For example, many chancellors are familiar with the old "White and Dykman" volumes, discussing not only canonical amendments at the General Conventions but secular cases affecting the church. That same "White" - the Rev. Edwin Augustine White - was an attorney-priest 100 years ago, and authored a magnificent treatise on church law. There were once other scholars of that type. But in our own century there has been little scholarship about church law. A wonderful exception is Prof. Daniel B. Stevick's Canon Law, A Handbook, published in 1965, but in recent decades it essentially stands alone.

Why should our Anglican legal tradition be revived? It should be revived if we want an updated, useful, flexible set of laws available as a tool to work out questions open to legal resolution. The side of our polity derived from England - both church and state - often lends itself (some would say too frequently lends itself) to analysis of difficulties through legal reasoning, hearing and adjudication. On the other hand, the Roman side of our tradition embraces an ancient canonical heritage full of pragmatic, principled ways of solving problems which arise in the life of the church. These two threads of legal thought are combined in the Episcopal Church's structure. Their living interchange ought to be encouraged, not left weak and moribund.

How can our Anglican legal tradition be revived? Here are 10 suggestions for a start:

1. Cultivate a "juristic" and not a "legalistic" attitude within the church. No one wants the church to entertain affection for legal trivia. Such an attitude is captured by the pejorative term "legalistic." In contrast, a "juristic" attitude encourages due attention to rights, obligations and fairness among Christ's body of believers.

2. Ensure that all seminaries offer adequate education in church law. Seminary education in law varies with the institution, but a suggested curriculum and reading list could profitably be developed so that candidates approach ordination with a uniform appreciation for the subject. Formal education for non-seminarians also is needed. Perhaps one or two seminaries could look to the two-year program recently established at the University of Wales in Cardiff. Designed for working clergy and lawyers, it alternates between periods of home study and four weekends each year in residence at the university. Students earn either a diploma or a master's degree with an emphasis in Anglican Ecclesiastical Law. Why not a similar program for working clergy and lawyers in the Episcopal Church?

3. Make national and diocesan canons more available. The canons are too often considered cabalistic documents far beyond the understanding of non-lawyers. True, canons are written for legal purposes, but (for the most part) are not beyond the comprehension of educated persons willing to read them. The World Wide Web provides an opportunity to publish current, complete versions of the national and diocesan constitutions and canons. Such a site ought to be developed and carefully maintained.

4. Educate parish leaders, clergy and vestry in church law. Everyone in responsible positions in the church needs to be acquainted with the basics of ecclesiastical law. Bishops, priests, deacons, wardens, vestry members and diocesan officials all would benefit from fundamental and ongoing church law instruction. Many dioceses can arrange this, through their chancellors and network of volunteer attorneys.

5. Keep White & Dykman updated and accessible. These classic volumes, now two generations old and hard to find, embody an annotated record of the church's legislation from the first General Convention up to the 1950s. They should not be filed away as legal relics - an ecclesiastical counterpart to Blackstone's Commentaries - but rather revived and updated after each General Convention and printed in paperback form as are the convention journals. At least, supplements should be made available each triennium. How else can the church track the development of its jurisprudence?

6. Seek out and encourage attorney-members of the church to volunteer their legal skills on a pro-bono basis for the myriad of mundane legal matters that dioceses and parishes face. Many lawyers do not volunteer their time for the church because they have not been asked. I doubt there is an under-worked chancellor in the Episcopal Church. All could probably use some help in the more routine legal items that arise in their dioceses.

7. Establish a mechanism for serious study of the law of the Episcopal Church, and for communication among chancellors and other interested persons. The Roman Catholic Church has the Canon Law Society of America, with annual meetings, continuing scholarship, and a journal called The Jurist for papers in canon law. The Church of England sponsors the Ecclesiastical Law Society with similar functions. Surely this church can support at least an informal group with occasional meetings and professional communication among members.

8. Publish scholarship in our church law. Law, like any other discipline, needs published research and thought to develop. Otherwise, it will stagnate. Persons interested and skilled in church law ought to take time to study, ponder and write serious works. Episcopal Church law also deserves more extended treatment - contemporary treatises, handbooks or guides.

9. Make use of diocesan courts for more than disciplinary trials. Let's design a way to employ such wisdom for mediation, arbitration, or a fair judicial hearing of other church disputes, such as those between rectors and vestries or dioceses and parishes. It is not outlandish to suggest that standing diocesan courts could be used in some of the same ways as consistory courts are employed in England. The common law judicial model is no more an evil (if necessary) concept than is the parliamentary model of the General Convention. Courts, even if sometimes abused, are a positive social engine and can fill that role in the church as they do in secular society.

10. Ask state legislatures to update or repeal obsolete statutes governing Episcopal parish procedure and corporate structures. Church law is not just the law of the church, but comprehends secular law applied to the church. If those laws are confused or archaic, then even the smoothest of internal systems will stumble over obstacles from outside legislative schemes.

I hardly suggest that its distinguished lineage makes church law sacrosanct. Reform the church's law when necessary. Criticize it if deserved. Monitor it for fairness. But do not encourage hostility or indifference to our canonical system, for that system reflects a legal heritage which has long been a bright star in the Anglican constellation. q