Canon and Civil Law

Clarke, Peter (2019) Canon and Civil Law. In, Barrington, Candace and Sobecki, Sebastian (eds.) Cambridge Companion to Medieval Law and Literature. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, pp. 30-41.

Abstract

By the twelfth century canon and civil law formed part of an international legal system and culture in Western Christendom known as the ius commune. A universal body of canon law was gradually compiled from the mid-twelfth century, including Gratian’s Decretum, which became the standard textbook for the study of canon law in the universities emerging across the West. The civil law in its early sixth-century codification was increasingly revived and studied alongside it. Canon law was enforced through an emerging system of ecclesiastical jurisdiction extending from local archdeacons and bishops’ courts to the papal curia. Civil law influenced both secular and canon law and established the basis for Romano-canonical procedure in the church courts. Although England has often been seen as separate from such continental traditions, both laws were demonstrably integral to its legal culture and practices, and even the Henrician Reformation did not entirely disrupt their influence there.

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