Volume 109, Issue 1

In the present article, I analyze Greek and Latin sources of pre-Nicene Christianity and argue that violence, although generally overlooked, constitutes an intrinsic and significant aspect of the early Christian model of pastoral rule. I premise my argument on an understanding of violence that rejects so-called ‘legitimist’ definitions, which subordinate the judgment on violence to a judgment on legitimacy and reserve the label of violence for illegitimate actions alone. Congenitally embedded in a network of conflictual relations, the shepherd of early Christian imagery is primarily tasked with the salvation of the sheep from enemies whose ambiguous identity, I argue, often betrays their provenance from within the flock. The shepherd is also engaged in disciplining his animals through measures that include severe physical punishments and exclusion from the herd. To conclude, I argue that the pastoral metaphor is itself an especially powerful instrument in the discursive construction of legitimate violence. For a relevant strand of ancient thought, to frame a particular institution in terms of the shepherd-flock relationship is, I argue, to conceive of it as replicative of the natural and normative order of reality, while also making certain acts of violence appear as the preferable course of action to be sought in the government of the community.

We trace the transmission and influence of a late-antique maxim, “Privilegium meretur amittere, qui potestate sibi concessa abutitur” [PMA] down to the early modern period. Appearing first in a decretal of Pope Simplicius, it spread not only through the canon law but also into a variety of other texts, for example theological and political treatises. PMA deserves attention alongside the more famous “Quod omnes tangit, ab omnibus approbetur” through its contribution to the idea of limited government.

In my paper I will not classify decretal collections on the basis of the letters they include. However, I want to look at the totality of form and content of manuscripts, codicological and paleographical aspects as well as the typology of decretals. My thesis is that they were used in different types of transfer and that the production and spread of decretals happened mainly in the Paris Basin. My article will be presented in the following sections: 1. Introduction; 2. Deconstructibility of Decretals and Extravagants; 3. Materiality and Use of Decretal Collections; 4. Paratexts or “Layout on Page Margins”; 5. Pre-Gratian Decretals; 6. Paris Basin – Use of decretals in Schools; 7. Conclusion

This paper questions the narrative widely used in historical research that from the time after the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the canonical punishment of sodomy was tightened and sodomy was ultimately persecuted as heresy. Particular attention is paid to the ecclesiastical prosecution of heresy in the pontificate of Gregory IX in comparison to the treatment of the offence at the Lateran Councils of 1179 and 1215 as well as in the confession summa of Raymund of Peñafort. Due to the opposing presentations of the issue by Raymund and Gregory, this essay also contributes to the question of the relationship between the Pope and the compiler of the Liber Extra.

The Apparatus on the Decretals by pope Innocent IV: A known unknown . Other than the usual approach which focuses on the juridical content of the famous decretal commentary, the present paper highlights its structural and formal features. Peculiarities include unusual methods of argumentation, striking disproportions in the attention given to individual decretals, increasing frequency of gaps due to rudimentary treatment of certain decretals and complete omission of others, a program of textual criticism halfway abandoned, a rich tradition, where some 30 early editions, ca. 160 medieval manuscripts and a mysterious originale remain without apparent connections, a daunting jungle of so called additiones . The paper, which asks many questions leaving them without answers, should nevertheless help to understand the incomparable commentary.

The development of the Lutheran Denomination. “Lutheran Orthodoxy” in the perspective of Legal History . The term ‘Lutheran Orthodoxy’ is mostly used for the majority of Lutherans following the ‘Formular of Concord’ of 1577. Originally, however, the term was coined with a polemic intention to reveal the hardhearted persecution of religious minorities. In a legal perspective it stands for a debate within Saxon Protestants, which starting in 1573 led to the incrimination of Calvinists as well as Philippists (followers of Philipp Melanchthon), but also established, eventually, the Lutheran denomination in the Empire and in other countries. When criminal persecution was no longer to be expected, this kind of debate was carried on among Lutheran lawyers in order to claim true Lutheranism for their own teaching. With Christian Thomasius, however, the repression itself became a reproach – which coins the common perception until today.

From an objective scale to a subjective verdict. The Role of the Judge in the work of Johann Oldendorp and the re-evaluation of the roman-canon law of evidence in Humanism and Protestant Reformation . The roman-canon law of procedure was based on the assumptions of the Church fathers that laws on jurisdiction would guarantee objective and just decisions. Humanism, however, relied on the assumption that education and knowledge would teach the individual; not general rules, but expertise would lead to cognition and justice. In order to save the traditional law of procedure, Johann Oldendorp, one of the most innovative Protestant lawyers, taught that the best educated judge with sufficient practical experience should still keep the promise of objective, just decisions. Although the ideas on hermeneutics had changed profoundly by then, this reasoning helped to find convincing verdicts in the procedure of the old roman-canon law.

New insights and ideas for an edition of Huguccio’s Summa decretorum . A critical edition of Huguccio’s monumental and eminently influential Summa decretorum has long been an urgent desideratum of canonist research. The present contribution evaluates previous research conducted by Oldřich Přerovský (1924–2013) and presents the results of our own sample edition of parts of Huguccio’s commentary on the pars prima of the Decretum Gratiani. In particular, we offer new insights into the Summa’s complex manuscript tradition and propose a thorough revision of Přerovský’s editorial methodology with the aim of relaunching the Huguccio edition in the future.

Orders and conflicts of jurisdictions. The procedure of appeal against an abuse of ecclesiastical power, processual lever, political object . The procedure of appeal as abuse was profoundly reformed by King François I, in the great ordinance signed at Villers-Cotterêts in August 1539. The concept underlying this reform set it up as a political lever in the fight against ecclesiastical jurisdictions, in a Gallican perspective. From the 16 th to the 18 th century, jurists thus turned a simple procedure into a real political tool in the service of their ideas.