1st Edition

Decretals and the Creation of the 'New Law' in the Twelfth Century Judges, Judgements, Equity and the Law

By Charles Duggan Copyright 1998
    358 Pages
    by Routledge

    In this second volume of studies on 12th-century canon law, Charles Duggan emphasises the European context of the emergence of the ius novum, the new law of the Western church, based on specific cases and informed by the academic learning of the schools where canon law was taught as a scholarly discipline. The themes range from marriage and forgery to regional applications, with studies on decretals to Hungary and Archbishop Roger of York respectively, Italian marriage decretals, the impact of the Becket dispute, litigation involving English secular magnates and the crown culminating with a perceptive analysis of the role of judges delegate in the formation and application of the new principles of law and jurisprudence which the practice of local courts and appeals to the papacy brought into being. Significant light is thrown on English collectors, judges, and secular and ecclesiastical litigants. Wherever possible, calendars are provided, often with more accurate identifications and dating, and based on the fullest manuscript sources.

    Contents: Introduction; Papal judges delegate and the making of the ’New Law’ in the 12th century; St Thomas of Canterbury and aspects of the Becket dispute in the decretal collections; Decretals of Alexander III to England; English secular magnates in the decretal collections; Decretal letters to Hungary; Italian marriage decretals in English collections: with special reference to the Peterhouse collection; The case of Bernard of Osma: royal influence and papal authority in the diocese of Osma; Improba pestis falsitatis: forgeries and the problem of forgery in 12th-century decretal collections (with special reference to English cases); Equity and compassion in papal marriage decretals to England; Addenda; Index.
    'This Variorum collection brings together for the first time Duggan’s most important core soundings in the mass of decretals.' Studia Canonica, Vol. 33, No. 1