Decretist

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In the history of canon law, a decretist was a student and interpreter of the Decretum Gratiani . Like Gratian, the decretists sought to provide "a harmony of discordant canons" (concordia discordantium canonum), and they worked towards this through glosses (glossae) and summaries (summae) on Gratian. [1] They are contrasted with the decretalists, whose work primarily focused on papal decretals.

Early decretists of the Italian school include Paucapalea, a pupil of Gratian's; Rufinus, who wrote the Summa Decretorum; and Huguccio, who wrote the Summa super Decreta, the most extensive decretist work. [1] There was also a French school of decretists starting with Stephen of Tournai. [2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Rhidian Jones, The Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England: A Handbook (T&T Clark, 2000), 45–46.
  2. Weigand, Rudolf. "The Transmontane Decretists." In The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical period,1140-1234: From Gratian to the Decretals of Pope GregoryIX, edited by Wilfried Hartmann and Kenneth Pennington, 174–210. History of Medieval Canon Law. Washington, D.C: Catholic University of America Press, 2008.

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