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As for the origin of Canon Law, when you have a Church of 1.3 Billion people from every culture and nation on earth, you have to have some set of rules that people can turn to for a set of standards. The Code of Canon Law is not an explanation of Scripture, it's a technical manual that sets a written standard for how the Church operates. It answers questions such as, "Who can be married?" and "What are the proper procedures for disciplining Clergy? The entire point of the Code of Canon Law is to ensure justice in a large, diverse, and complex human organization. It's the answer to "How does one Love thy neighbor as oneself?" when the neighbors are a bishop and a priest who is accused of teaching heresy, or the neighbors are a woman who has just married a man who turns out to be a practicing homosexual, and she wants to know if she is in a valid marriage or just a sham.

There was some hubbub a few weeks back about Michael Schiavo getting married again in the Church and how this should not have happened since it violates Canon.

When you stick around for a few millennia, just about every possible situation has come up and been decided before.

Yes, it is a violation of Canon to arrange for the demise of your spouse so that you are then "free" to marry your girlfriend.

To those who are basically ecclesial anarchists, this is dismissed with the "legalistic!" charge. To the rest of us, it seems wise to have a collection of the decisions and wisdom of the Church through the ages.

"When you stick around for a few millennia, just about every possible situation has come up and been decided before."

Yes. What situation has not been thrown at the Church before? I'm reminded of the two young mothers who approached King Solomon for judgment after one of them had lost her infant during the night, and they both claimed the survivor. It's good to have sincere, committed, and intelligent individuals utilize a broad perspective and exxperience to set a just standard of law. The ancient Israelites had the Decalogue and the Book of Leviticus, but they still needed the judges to help determine how those rules apply to particular situations.