decretal
n.
papal decree relating to a point of view of church law
Decretal
Decretals (Epistolae decretales) is the name that is given in
Canon law to those letters of the
pope which formulate decisions in ecclesiastical law. They are generally given in answer to consultations, but are sometimes due to the initiative of the
popes. These furnish, with the canons of the councils, the chief source of the legislation of the church, and formed the greater part of the
Corpus Iuris Canonici before they were formally replaced by the
Codex Iuris Canonici of
1917. However, Cardinal
Pietro Gasparri led the papal commission for the revision of canon law and later on published a guide to the fonts used in the 1917 code, many canons in this code can easily be retraced in their relationship to and dependency on medieval decretals as well as
Roman law.
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Decretals
Eccles. Law. The decretals are canononical epistles, written by the pope alone, or by the pope and cardinals, at the instance or suit of some one or more persons, for the ordering and determining some matter in controversy, and have the authority of a law in themselves.
The decretals were published in three volumes. The first volume was collected by Raymundus Barcinius, chaplain to Gregory IX., about the year 1231, and published by him to be read in schools and used in the ecclesiastical courts. The second volume is the work of Boniface VIII compiled about the year 1298, with additions to and alterations of the ordinances of his predecessors. The third volume is called the Clementines, because made by Clement V., and was published by him in the council of Vienna about the year 1308. To these may be added the Extravagantes of John XXII. and other bishops of Rome, which, relative to the others, are called Novelle Constitutiones.
The false decretals were forged in the names of the early bishops of Rome and first appeared about A.D. 845-850. The author of them is not known.
This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.
DECRETALS
DECRETALI
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