Canon Lawyers Research Articles

FitzRalph's Antimendicant ‘proposicio’ (1350) and the Politics of the Papal Court at Avignon

The conciliar movement is often seen as the major political issue in which the universities of Oxford, Paris and the newer universities became actively embroiled during the fourteenth century and thereafter. It was the last and most ambitious product of the medieval vision of government by consent and representation that had evolved during the fourteenth century, and it marshalled the resources of theorists and practitioners of politics, of arts and theology faculty lecturers, of canon and civil lawyers, of monarchical publicists and papal hierocrats. In general, conciliarism drew upon the university-trained in a manner not previously seen on such a scale. During the Great Schism (1378–1449), the universities assumed exceedingly important roles in the affairs of the universal Church, with the University of Paris playing a dominant part from the start in proposing the via concilii. Pierre d'Ailly was, like Gerson, Conrad of Gelnhausen and Henry of Langenstein, and like the earlier Marsilius of Padua, a Paris scholar. And it has recently been argued that university support for the Basle conciliar programme was motivated not only by an attachment to the ideal of conciliar government but also by the hope of reforms which would improve the status of university-trained doctors in the Church. While the bulk of controls proposed by the conciliar movement concerned the reduction of papal control, a few aimed more explicitly at promoting the interests of graduates.

Propaganda for War the Dissemination of the Crusading Ideal in the Twelfth Century

It was accepted in western Europe, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that there was an obligation upon the military classes, and indeed on Christians generally, to take up arms in defence of the Holy Sepulchre, or to participate in other expeditions authorised by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. War ceased to be, for Christians, a regrettable necessity, and became a virtue, and armies were summoned by the trumpet-blasts of the Prince of Peace. There has been a great deal of work by historians in recent decades on the transformation of earlier Christian ideology, and we now understand much more about the origins of crusading ideas, the discussion of warfare by theologians and canon lawyers, and the profound changes in spirituality which accompanied the rise of militarism. There is however a technical aspect of the subject which is less often considered: the actual methods by which the new ideals were communicated to western society generally. By any standards, it was a remarkably successful exercise in publicity. It was also, in the first instance, very rapid. Urban II announced the expedition to Jerusalem at the Council of Clermont in November 1095, and he fixed the date of departure as 15 August 1096. The summons was heard by groups far wider than the princes and their households, and by Easter 1096 an army led by Peter the Hermit had already arrived in Cologne on its way from northern France. Within a few months, therefore, and well in advance of the papal deadline, the message had spread to all levels of society over a wide geographical area. A system of communication as effective as this deserves our respect and study. It would be a mistake to conclude from the total absence of modern technology that the control of opinion was unimportant in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Just War Theory: What's the Use?

Anyone seriously interested in applying traditional just war theory to current international affairs finds it difficult even to begin. Part of the problem is that the theory itself is badly misunderstood. Some people—proponents and detractors alike—think it is first and foremost a product of Christian theological wisdom and a repository of Christian principles having relevance to relations between states. A Catholic who points to recent popes, to John Courtney Murray, or to the tradition of Thomas Aquinas when evoking just war categories adds weight to this conception of just war theory. So too does a Protestant who goes to Martin Luther or Paul Ramsey for information about just war. It is true that just war doctrine was advanced and preserved by Christian theologians and canon lawyers. But these were not the only contributors to the tradition of just war thought, nor have they been the only important preservers of whatever wisdom it contains for limiting war.

Divorce and Remarriage: Resolving a Catholic Dilamma by Denis J. Doherty

BOOK REVIEWS Divorce and Remarriage: Resolving a Catholic Dilamma. By DENIS J. DoHERTY. St. Meinrad, Indiana: Abbey Press, 1974. Pp. 194. $8.50. The author is quite forthright in stating the purpose of his book: " I propose to urge that the present official teaching of the indissolubility of marriage be changed because, as it stands, it is theologically untenable." (p. 4) The Council of Trent defended its teaching on the indissolubility of marriage on the grounds that it was in accord with " evangelical and apostolic teaching" (Sess. XXIV, Canon 7). One might expect that the author would look for flaws in the Church's teaching on scriptural or early historical grounds. But this is not the method to be used. The author is quite candid in admitting that " exegesis is not my area of competence," and in noting an observation of one who is competent, Joseph Fitzmeyer, S. J.: "So far as the texts are concerned we have Jesus's absolute command. [People looking for a change in the Church's attitude towards divorce] can't look to the New Testament scholars to provide them with loopholes." Doherty's own reply is somewhat startling: "No need. Moralists and canonists have already provided them in abundance ." (p. 153) If we may judge by the Index of Authors the writer seemingly has little competence in the area of early Church history or the history of dogma. Augustine alone is cited from the early Christian writers and Fathers of the Church who reflect and comment upon the data of Scripture. Candor seems to be the author's strongpoint, and this is evidenced once again when he informs us that he intends to urge a change in the Church's teaching" from the standpoint of moral theology, both traditional and contemporary ." (p. 4) But "traditional" moral theology begins with Gratian in the twelfth century, and contemporary moral theology is reflected almost wholly in the more advanced views expressed by Catholic and non-Catholic moralists and ethicians who agree with the author's conclusions. Admittedly there is a growing consensus among moralists, canon lawyers, and theologians that it is time for the Church to change her teaching on divorce and remarriage and to accomodate her practice to that of the Eastern Christians and that of our separated brethren of the West. Doherty's method of "resolving a Catholic dilemma" may appeal to some moralists, and I am sure that they would report more favorably on the author's efforts. As a sacramental theologian who has taught the theology of marriage for some decades and who has been more recently engaged in presenting a theology of marriage in terms of covenant, I find that the twelfth century, with its new emphasis on marriage as a contract, is not the best point of departure. St. Vincent's Seminary Boynton Beach, Floridn,, PAUL F. PALMER, s. J. ...

The Contribution of the Medieval Canon Lawyers to the Formation of International Law

The Contribution of the Medieval Canon Lawyers to the Formation of International Law

La canonística medieval y su contribución al desarrollo del pensamiento constitucional contemporáneo

Se analiza la contribución de la canonística medieval al desarrollo de las bases jurídicas del pensamiento constitucional contemporáneo en tres ámbitos:1) El origen y el desarrollo del principio de soberanía, desde las nociones de jurisdictio y potestas. La soberanía papal y sus límites, a partir de la construcción de la plenitudo potestatis.2) La relación entre el poder unipersonal y colegial a partir de la abstracción jurídica de la universitas y de la persona representata.3) Su aportación a la teoría consensual del poder y la construcción doctrinal de la noción de congregatio fidelium.

On the Road from Constance to 1688: The Political Thought of John Major and George Buchanan

It was Harold J. Laski who said “the road from Constance to 1688 is a direct one,” and he did so when speaking of the constitutional theories enunciated by the Conciliar thinkers and put into practice at the Council of Constance. These closely related theories had their roots deep in the corporative thinking of the medieval canon lawyers but sprang into prominence during the years after 1378, when the Western Church was divided first into two and then into three “obediences” under the sway of rival claimants to the Papacy. Basic to all the Conciliar theories was the central insistence that the final authority in the Church lay not with the Pope but with the whole body of the faithful and that the Pope possessed, therefore, not an absolute but merely a ministerial authority delegated to him for the good of the Church. This belief made it possible to appeal from the obduracy of the rival pontiffs to the decision of the faithful as expressed through their representatives assembled in a General Council of the whole Church, and such a possibility was actualized at the Councils of Pisa (1409) and Basel (1431-1449) and, most strikingly of all, at Constance (1414-1418). There it found expression, not only in the judgment and deposition of popes, but also in the promulgation of the decree Sacrosancta (1415), which declared:This sacred synod of Constance, forming a General Council … represents the Catholic Church and has immediate power from Christ which anyone, of whatsoever status and condition, even if holding the Papal dignity, is bound to obey in matters pertaining to the Faith, extirpation of the schism and reformation of the said Church in head and members.

The Trinity Collection of Decretals and the Early Worcester Family

All primitive decretal collections composed in England are conventionally classified in three main groups, described as the English, Bridlington, and Worcester Families respectively. These names are admittedly matters merely of convenience, and are open in all cases either to question or qualification. The Worcester Family (the most advanced of English primitive collections in technical construction) is named after the Worcester Collection, on the mistaken assumption that this, authentically Worcester, composition is the oldest surviving member of the group; whereas in fact a hitherto undiscussed manuscript in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, reveals an earlier derivation from their common origin, and there are good reasons for doubting if the family archetype was dependent in any way on the Worcester school of canon lawyers. Six members of this once-numerous family are known at present in manuscript, and two of these are also familiar in published analyses. All are technically primitive in composition, being either divided into books or libri simply, or in the most mature examples subdivided also into titles or tituli, but without the systematic device of dismemberment of the longer decretals. In systematic collections the longer letters, dealing frequently with several different and quite unrelated topics within the limits of a single decretal, are dissected into their component chapters, which are arranged analytically according to subject matter and distributed under various headings. None of the Worcester Family is systematic in this sense, though some record an advanced stage of technical development within the primitive conventions.

The Origin of the Bill of Exchange

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Origin of the Bill of ExchangeAbbott Payson UsherAbbott Payson Usher Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Political Economy Volume 22, Number 6Jun., 1914 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/252472 Views: 4555Total views on this site Citations: 23Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Tomasz Giaro Medieval Canon Lawyers and European Legal Tradition. A Brief Overview, Review of European and Comparative Law 47, no.44 (Dec 2021): 157–187.https://doi.org/10.31743/recl.12727Mikhail Kuter, Alan Sangster, Marina Gurskaya The formation and use of a profit reserve at the end of the fourteenth century, Accounting History 25, no.11 (Sep 2019): 69–88.https://doi.org/10.1177/1032373219870316Andrea Ponza, Simone Scannapieco, Anna Simone, Claudio Tomazzoli Envisioning the Digital Transformation of Financial Documents: A Blockchain-Based Bill of Exchange, (Jul 2020): 81–90.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52535-4_9Pilar Nogues-Marco Money Markets and Exchange Rates in Preindustrial Europe, (Mar 2020): 245–268.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0596-2_16Lauren Jacobi The Architecture of Banking in Renaissance Italy, XV (Apr 2019).https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108673471John A. James Payment Systems, (Aug 2019): 1001–1021.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00181-0_13Pilar Nogues-Marco Money Markets and Exchange Rates in Preindustrial Europe, (May 2018): 1–24.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0622-7_16-1Gary Gorton The History and Economics of Safe Assets, Annual Review of Economics 9, no.11 (Aug 2017): 547–586.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-033017-125810 Credit Markets and Clearing Banks, (Jun 2017): 88–123.https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108182614.004John A. James Payment Systems, (Jun 2015): 353–373.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40406-1_13Gary B. Gorton The History and Economics of Safe Assets, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2016).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2770569Alan Sangster The Genesis of Double Entry Bookkeeping, The Accounting Review 91, no.11 (Mar 2015): 299–315.https://doi.org/10.2308/accr-51115, William A. Allen Asset choice in British central banking history, the myth of the safe asset, and bank regulation, Journal of Banking and Financial Economics 2, no.44 (Sep 2015): 18–31.https://doi.org/10.7172/2353-6845.jbfe.2015.2.2John A. James Payment Systems, (Feb 2015): 1–18.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_13-2John A. James Payment Systems, (Apr 2014): 1–18.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_13-1Gary Gorton Some Reflections on the Recent Financial Crisis, (Jun 2013): 161–184.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1151-8_11William A. Allen Eligibility, Bank Liquidity, Basel 3, Bank Credit and Macro-Prudential Policy: History and Current Issues, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2014).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2493767John A. James English Banking and Payments Before 1826, (Mar 2015): 117–149.https://doi.org/10.1108/S0363-3268(2012)0000028006Jared Rubin Bills of exchange, interest bans, and impersonal exchange in Islam and Christianity, Explorations in Economic History 47, no.22 (Apr 2010): 213–227.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2009.06.003Isabel Schnabel, Hyun Song Shin Liquidity and Contagion: The Crisis of 1763, Journal of the European Economic Association 2, no.66 (Dec 2004): 929–968.https://doi.org/10.1162/1542476042813887Isabel Schnabel, Hyun Song Shin Liquidity and Contagion: The Crisis of 1763, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2004).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.600746Meir G. Kohn Payments and the Development of Finance in Pre-Industrial Europe, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2001).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.291208Meir G. Kohn Bills of Exchange and the Money Market to 1600, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 1999).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.151849