sequent cliurch usage. But the few spurious decretals in Gregory s collection are of equal authority with the others, the whole having received the papal imprimatur. The constitutions in the Liber Sextus, Clementina, and Extra-
vagants are all genuine.
The Liber Septimus Decretalium, which appears in a supplement to some editions of the Corpus Juris, is a mere private collection formed by Peter Matthaeus, a lawyer of Lyons, in 1590. The Institution.es Juris Canonici of J. P. Lancelottus of Perugia are of the same character, but they form a useful and trustworthy compendium and are of considerable authority. They were written, as the author tells us in his preface, to complete the parallel between the two Corpora Juris, civil and canon. The Decretum of the canonists corresponded to the Pandects of the civilians ; the Decretals of Gregory to the Code ; the Liber Sextus, Cle- mentinis, and Extravagants to the Novels. At the Pope s suggestion Lancelot undertook to supply a text-book cor responding to the Institutes of Justinian. He completed and published it in 1563, but official confirmation never followed.
The latest and most correct edition of the Corpus Juris Canonici is by jEmilius L. Richter (2 vols. 4to, Leipsic, 1839), of which a second edition is in the press. But it has not superseded that of J. II. Boehmer (2 vols. 4to, Halle, 1747), which is rendered valuable by his notes and copious indices, and contains much useful supple mentary matter, including the Liber Septimus and Lancelot s Institutions.
III. Mediæval History.—From the 12th century Bologna university possessed two faculties of law a civil and a canon. The members of the latter were called doctores decretorum (a degree which required six years previous study) corresponding to the doctores legum of the civil law. Those who graduated in both faculties were doctors utriusque juris. The students were classed as canonistce or decretistce and civilistce or legistce. The system of tuition was oral (lecturce) with minute study of the original authorities. Explanatory notes (glosses) were added by many of the professors (hence called glossatores) to their copies of the text, written either on the margin or between the lines. These were transcribed along with the text in the manu scripts circulating among the students. Gradually the glosses took the shape of a consecutive commentary (appa ratus) in which the author incorporated what was most valuable in the notes of his predecessors. One of these always came to be accepted as of more authority than the rest, and on that account was entitled in the manuscripts Glossa Ordinaria, or simply Glossa. Such are the gloss on the Decretum by Joannes Teutonicus (1212), revised and supplemented by Bartholomseus Brixensis (of Brescia) in 1258, and that on Gregory s Decretals by Bernardus Parmensis (1266). The ordinary gloss of the Liber Sextus and Clementines is by Joannes Andreae (1348), the author of the Arbor Consanguinitatis et Affinitatis since inserted in the Decretum. (The last edition of the Corpus Juris Canonici, with the gloss, was published in 1671, 3 vols. fol., Lyons, sumpt. Huguetan et Barbier.) Abridgments of the text, giving briefly the substance of the titles in their order, with cross references, were composed under the name of Summae or Distinctions. The more intricate doctrines were explained in writings called Repetitiones at greater length than was suitable to the lecture-room. The law was also expounded by means of real or fictitious cases, of which digests were compiled (casus) for use by those who took part in the disputations or moots, which were regularly held (qucestiones). These were conducted by different professors on different days, and hence were often named from the days of the week Dominicales, Mercuriales, Veneriales, &c. Collections were made of unsettled and controverted points (Dissensiones Dominorum) and of rule or maxims of law (Brocarda, Brocardita, Parcemia, or Brocards. RegulfR Juris). In both faculties law was at this time cultivated in a thoroughly practical spirit, and their friendly rivalry and mutual influence were beneficial to both. The mode of study was similar in the other European schools, which were all modelled after those of Bulogna or Paris.
The church was thus supplied by the universities with well-educated class of lawyers for administering the business of the ecclesiastical courts those institutions which contributed so much to the growth and renown of the canon law. Their development was gradual but - steady. The primitive Christians, in pursuance of apostolic Ecclesias- precept (1 Cor. vi. 1-6), submitted their disputes to the *! J urU , / i i i i-i ti-L i diction, decision of their bishops, and it was enacted by several early councils that questions between churchmen should be settled by a spiritual tribunal. The episcopal jurisdiction was extended by Constantine to all matters which the con tending parties agreed to submit to it. This so-called Audientia Episcopalis was confirmed by several later Audientia, emperors, and the bishop s sentence was enforceable by the E l )isc - civil magistrate. By a law of Justinian, actions against 1>a the clergy were directed to be brought before the bishop in the first instance. In course of time the cliurch- courts absorbed many departments of civil jurisdiction. All matters connected in the most distant way with the church or religious duties were deemed proper subjects for disposal by her tribunals. The clergy dispensed the sacraments, and their assistance was required on the occasion of baptisms, marriages, and deaths. Hence the curice christianitatis took cognizance of questions relating to legitimacy, marriage, and succession. They assumed juris diction over not only the clergy, but all who were under the obligation of religious vows (e.g., Crusaders as well as widows and orphans (personce miserabiles) and minors. In the department of criminal law they were particularly active, punishing both ecclesiastical and religious offences, such as heresy, simony , blasphemy, sacrilege, and violation of personal and social morality (adultery, bigamy, fraud, perjury). For the administration of this extended judicial system the church had to enact her own rules of procedure, which were generally a great improvement on those prevailing in the civil courts. In fact it was by no means an evil at that period of European history that the administration of the law should fall into the hands of the clergy, who were the best educated men of their time, and had many of them been trained as lawyers in the schools of Bologna and Paris. The Teutonic and Gothic codes were very imperfect in most branches of the law, and the civil and criminal procedure of the native tribunals was far from settled. Their criminal law was little more than an elaborate system of fines, graduated according to the race or rank of the victim or the criminal. Evidence in our sense of the word was unknown, and innocence could only rely for protection on compurgation, ordeal, or judicial combat. Hence the people were, during several centuries, well content to resort to the church courts. The exemption of the clergy from civil jurisdiction was in accordance with the Teutonic principle that a man should be tried by his peers. And the laity were thankful to take shelter behind the church from the fines and exactions of the feudal courts, which were inflicted less in the interests of justice than for the profit of the overlord.
was conspicuous. She may be said to have originated modern international law. The ancient Romans regarded interna- all foreigners as hostes. Christianity inculcated the tioual law principle of the brotherhood of nations. The popes acted as arbitrators between prince and prince, and between prince and people. They protected the weak against the
strong, and right against might. The principle grew up
