Reigning Over the Kings of the Earth.
The woman of Revelation 17 claims authority over all the kings of the earth:
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
The Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church historically claims authority over all secular rulers, and has exercised that assumed authority by deposing kings or queens who did not acknowledge the Pope's superior secular and ecclesiastical authority.
Here are just a few examples of this claimed authority over Kings:
There are two powers, august Emperor, by which this world is chiefly ruled, namely, the sacred authority of the priests and the royal power. Of these that of the priests is the more weighty, since they have to render an account for even the kings of men in the divine judgment. You are also aware, dear son, that while you are permitted honorably to rule over human kind, yet in things divine you bow your head humbly before the leaders of the clergy and await from their hands the means of your salvation. In the reception and proper disposition of the heavenly mysteries you recognize that you should be subordinate rather than superior to the religious order, and that in these matters you depend on their judgment rather than wish to force them to follow your will.
Letter of Pope Gelasius I to Emperor Anastasius on the superiority of the spiritual over temporal power, 494 A.D.
From Pope Gregory VII, Dictatus Papae, 1090 A.D.
9. That of the pope alone all princes shall kiss the feet.
12. That it may be permitted to him to depose emperors.
1. ... the Roman Pontiff, who rules the offices of God and our Lord Jesus Christ on earth and who holds the fullness of power over kingdoms and kings, and who judges all, and by no one at this time is judged, ...
Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio, Papal Bull of Pope Paul IV - February 15, 1559.
Pope Innocent III on Empire and Papacy
'The Moon and the Sun' Sicut universitatis conditor.
Ep. i, 401, October 1198 P.L. ccxiv. 337. Mirbt, no. 326
The creator of the universe set up two great luminaries in the firmament of heaven; the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. In the same way for the firmament of the universal Church, which is spoken of as heaven, he appointed two great dignities; the greater to bear rule over souls (these being, as it were, days), the lesser to bear rule over bodies (those being, as it were, nights). These dignities are the pontifical authority and the royal power. Furthermore, the moon derives her light from the sun, and is in truth inferior to the sun in both size and quality, in position as well as effect. In the same way the royal power derives its dignity from the pontifical authority: and the more closely it cleaves to the sphere of that authority the less is the light with which it is adorned; the further it is removed, the more it increases in splendor.
THE POPE AND IMPERIAL ELECTIONS
The Statement of the Papal Claim by Innocent IIIDecretal Venerabilem, March 1202, Corpus Iuris Canonici, (Friedberg) II. 80. Mirbt, 323
[A letter from Innocent to the Duke of Zähringen justifying his intervention in a disputed election of the kingship of the Romans.]
... We acknowledge, as we are bound, that the right and authority to elect a king (later to be elevated to the Imperial throne) belongs to those princes to whom it is known to belong by right and ancient custom; especially at this right and authority came to them from the Apostolic See, which transferred the Empire from the Greeks to the Germans in the person of Charles the Great. But the princes should recognize, and assuredly do recognize, that the right and authority to examine the person so elected king (to be elevated to the Empire) belongs to us who anoint, consecrate and crown him. For it is a generally observed rule that the examination of a person belongs to him who has the duty of the laying-on of hands. For suppose that the princes elected a sacrilegious man or an excommunicate, a tyrant or an imbecile, a heretic or a pagan; and that not just by a majority, but unanimously, are we bound to anoint, consecrate and crown such a person? Of course not....
And it is evident from law and custom that when in an election the votes of the princes are divided we may, after due warning and a fitting interval, favour one of the parties.... For if after such due notice the princes cannot or will not agree, will not the Apostolic See be without an advocate and defender, and thus be punished for their fault?
Extract from Gregory VII's Letter to the Bishop of Metz,
1081 Doeberl, op. cit. iii. 40 sqq. Mirbt, No. 297... who can doubt but that the priests of Christ are to be considered the fathers and masters of kings and princes and of all the faithful? ...
... For, indeed, one can see how the necks of kings and princes are bowed before the knees of priests; and how, having kissed their right hands, they believe themselves strengthened by their prayers. ...
Furthermore every Christian King, when he comes to die, seeks as a pitiful supplicant the aid of a priest, that he may escape hell's prison, may pass from the darkness into the light, and at the judgment of God may appear absolved from the bondage of his sins. Who, in his last hour (what layman, not to speak of priests), has ever implored the aid of an earthly king for the salvation of his soul? And what king or emperor is able, by reason of the office he holds, to rescue a Christian from the power of the devil through holy baptism, to number him among the sons of God, and to fortify him with the divine unction? Who of them can by his own words make the body and blood of our Lord, - the greatest act in the Christian religion? Or who of them possesses the power of binding and loosing in heaven and on earth? From all of these considerations it is clear how greatly the priestly office excels in power.
Who of them can ordain a single clerk in the holy Church, much less depose him for any fault? For in the orders of the Church a greater power is needed to depose than to ordain. Bishops may ordain other bishops, but can by no means depose them without the authority of the apostolic see. Who, therefore, or even moderate understanding, can hesitate to give priests the precedence over kings? Then, if kings are to be judged by priests for their sins, by whom can they be judged with better right than by the Roman Pontiff?
The source for the above examples of papal claims of authority over kings is from Documents of the Christian Church, Second Edition, selected and Edited by Henry Bettenson, Copyright by Oxford University Press 1963, ISBN 0-19-501293-3, pages 106-108, 112-113.
On the above papal medal (Mazio 13, Spink 342) issued by Pope Callistus III (1455-58), the reverse side reads OMNES REGES SERVIENT EI, a quote of Daniel 7:27 from the Latin Vulgate, which when translated in the Catholic Douay Rheims reads "ALL KINGS SHALL SERVE HIM". The scripture refers to God, but the papal triple-tiered tiara portrayed above the cross clearly symbolizes papal authority, that the papacy is God's designated representative, having authority even over the kings of the earth, just as the above excerpts show.
In the Roman Church, positive ecclesiastical laws, based upon either immutable divine and natural law, or changeable circumstantial and merely positive law, derive formal authority and promulgation from the pope, who as Supreme Pontiff possesses the totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power in his person.
(Admiralty law was also based on civil law instead of common law, thus was handled by the civilians too.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Commons
Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil law in London. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildings with rooms where its members lived and worked and a big library. Court proceedings of the civil law courts were also held in Doctors' Commons.
While the English Common Law, unlike the legal systems on the European continent, developed mostly independently from Roman Law, some specialised English courts applied the Roman based civil law. This is true of the ecclesiastical courts, whose practice even after the English Reformation continued to be based on the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, but also of the admiralty courts.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P16.HTM
THE ROMAN PONTIFF
Can. 331 The bishop of the Roman Church, in whom continues the office given by the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. By virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.
Can. 333 §3. No appeal or recourse is permitted against a sentence or decree of the Roman Pontiff.Do you get it yet? This is a Con-Game to Con-Troll YOU!
There is an Alternative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law
Natural law or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis) has been described as a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore holds everywhere. As classically used, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. The phrase natural law is opposed to the positive law (meaning "man-made law", not "good law"; cf. posit) of a given political community, society, or nation-state, and thus can function as a standard by which to criticize that law.
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