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.

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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, Pietro Gasparri who lead the papal commission for the revision of canon law, later on published a guide to the older sources used in the 1917 code. Thus many canons in this code can easily be retraced in their relationship to and dependency on medieval decretals.

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In themselves the medieval decretals form a very special source which throws light on medieval conflicts and the approaches to their solution. They are sometimes concerned with very important issues touching on many aspects of medieval life, for example marriage and legal procedure.

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Pope: :This entry is about the Catholic Pontiff. For other uses of the word, see Pope (disambiguation)....

1917: 1917 was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar....

Pietro Gasparri: Pietro Cardinal Gasparri (Capovallazza di Ussita, Macerata province, May 5, 1852-November 18, 1934) was Roman Catholic archbishop, diplomat and politician in the Roman Curia. Gasparri served as the Apostolic delegate to Peru from 1898 to 1901, when he became a member of the Curia and returned to Ro...