To meet the necessity of rendering canon law more accessible from the 10th to the 12th century at least 36 compilations were made, only the authors, titles and dates of which seem necessary for this article. The first was a manuscript under 12 heads, divided into 354 chapters, abstracted from Cresconius. The sec ond was extracted from Dionysius and the pseudo-Isadore collection. The third is very voluminous, and taken from Hadrian's codex with numerous additions. The fourth, by an unknown author, contains portions of concilia, decretals and extracts from the Fathers. The fifth, made by Regino, abbot of Prum, between 906 and 915, is founded on three Frankist col lections, the Fathers and the West Gothic Bre viary. The sixth is a Leipzig codex; the sev enth a Darmstadt codex. The eighth is attrib uted to Rotger, bishop of Treves in 922. The ninth is a Viennese manuscript. The 10th is also a manuscript of five books, composed in Italy in the middle of the 10th century, and is founded upon the Irish collection in 65 titles, on fragments of the Fathers, lives of the saints, decretals, Julian's I Novella,' with capitularies of the emperors added up to Henry I. The 11th was addressed by Abbo, abbot of Fleury, to King Hugo and his son Robert, and consists of a treatise of 52 chap ters on the Church and clergy. The 12th was composed by Burchard, bishop of Worms, in .1012-23, and contains the canons of the Apostles, the transmarine, German, Gallic and Spanish councils, papal decrees and other passages. The 13th is a manuscript in 12 books made in Germany or France. The 14th is a Terraconian manuscript belonging to the 11th century. The 15th is an introduction to disci pline. The 16th is a collection taken chiefly from Halitgar, Rasbanu, Manurus and Bur chard. The 17th is a rich collection in man uscript by Anselm, bishop of Lucca in 1086. The 18th is 74 titles taken from the above work, and the 19th and 20th appear about the end of the 1 1 th century, both taken from the works of Anselm and Burchard. The 21st is a work in 13 books. The 22d is the capitu lades of Cardinal Atto in 1081 and excerpts from decretals. Cardinal Deusdedit composed the 23d in four books at the end of the llth cen tury, from Dionysius, the Greek canons, the old Italian and Spanish-Saxon and Roman rec ords. The 24th is by Bourgo, bishop of Satrim in 1089, and is in 10 books. The 25th is in two books and belongs to the 11th or the 12th cen tury. The first chapter is inscribed from the Primate of the Roman Church and is published with the Dionysian collection. The 26th is the decree attributed to Ivo, bishop of Chartres, and the 27th is the Pannormia in eight parts by the same author in 1090. The 28th is a large manuscript collection; first of decretals, second of councils, third of fathers, then Roman and Frankish legal collections. The 29th was made under Pascal II in 1102-18 in seven books. The 30th is attributed to Hildebert, bishop of Tours, in 1134, and may be the same as the 10 books attributed to Ivo. The 31st is a manuscript in 15 books called the collection of Saragossa. The 32d is wholly extracted from the above. The 33d is taken from Bur chard and Ivo. The 34th is a penitential book in nine titles belonging to the 12th century. The 35th belongs to the middle of the 12th century and is taken chiefly from Anselm of Lucca and the collection dedicated to Ansel mus. Gregory, a Spanish priest, is the author. Lastly, Algerius of Liege in the beginning of the 12th century compiled a work on 'Justice and Mercy,' which contains a treatise on Church discipline in three parts, taken from Anselm and Burchard for the most part. Gratian, a Benedictine monk, composed at Bologna in the middle of the 12th century a scientific and practical work on the canon law with references and proofs. The first part treated of ecclesiastical administration, the second contained 26 legal positions, with their answers, the third part concerned the liturgy of the Church. The whole work is founded on previous collections and contains many mistakes. It was never approved by the Church though it obtained great authority and superseded all other collections. Other col lections are by Cardinal Laborans in 1182, that of Bernard of Pavia in 1190, that by Gilbert, an Englishman, in 1203. The universities of Bologna and Paris at an early period began to exercise great influence on canon law and their opinion in controverted questions was considered decisive, and was termed the au thority of the schools. Gratian's collection was made the basis of lectures in Bologna and teachers of the canons were called magistri and doctores decretorum. Their teachings were soon gathered together in books of com• mentaries. Soon after the collection by Gra tian, the Extravagantes, or decrees not vet collected, were gathered together, there being between the years 1179 and 1227 14 different compilations, only five of which received the stamp of authority. Pope Gregory IX ordered a code to be published in which the entire body of law was to be properly arranged. What was useless was to be cut out, what was am biguous was to be corrected. Raymond of Pennafort was entrusted with this task, which he finished in the year 1233, and the collection was sent to the universities of Bologna and Paris with instructions that it was to be the sole authority. The whole work is divided into five books. The first treats of ecclesiastical judicature and of prelates; the second of civil suits; the third of civil causes before the episcopal forum; the fourth of betrothals and marriage; the fifth of judicial proceedings in criminal matters and of punishments. To these five books was added by Pope Boniface VIII, in 1298, a sixth book of decretals. This was followed in 1334 by the Clementine or collection of decretals by Pope Clement V. The Extravagantes of John XXII in 1334 and the Extravagantes Communes (73 decretals from Boniface VIII to Sixtus V) were gathered by authority and made part of the code or 'Corpus Juris Canonici.' Commen taries on the 'Corpus' were made by the doctors, and systematic works for the use of courts were published. In the 15th century legal literature seems confined to these efforts. But in the 16th century Pope Paul IV con fided a congregation of cardinals, with canoeists as consultors, the work of revising and correcting the 'Corpus Juris.' Gregory XIII approved the work of the committee and an authentic edition was published in 1580, in which the glosses are retained, and on which all subsequent editions have been based. The corrections made by the commission are marked "cot. Rom." in the text. Two append ices were added, one the Institutiones Lancelotti, the other Septimus Decretalium, which con tained the Extravagantes of Sixtus V in 1590. Neither is of public authority, but both are very useful and recognized by scholastic ap proval. Since then the Bullarium Benedicti XIV, which contains the constitutions of that Pope, has been made of public authority. There is also a collection of papal bulls, called Bulla rium Magnum Romanum, made up in 14 vol umes, which was published in 1744 and con tinued in 1840; but it is very imperfect and only a private collection. Anyone who desires to know canon law must learn the 'Corpus Juris,' even though to-day many parts have been changed by the councils of Trent and the Vatican and by new papal decrees. In the 'Corpus' itself the different portions stand as lex prior and lex posterior, so that in cases of contradiction the latest is preferred. With certain modifications the 'Corpus) still has the force of law in matters relating to ec clesiastical judicature, to divine worship, to doctrine and discipline. It is the code still followed in the schools and used in Church courts, not only as the source of argument but also as the method of procedure in many cases. The 'his Novissimum) in canon law consists of laws published from the time the 'Corpus Juris' was closed, that is, since the Extravagantes were inserted down to the present day, and includes the decrees of the councils of Trent and the Vatican. Except the Bullarium of Benedict XIV, mentioned above, no authentic collection has been made of the various constitutions and laws made by the Roman pontiffs since the close of the 'Corpus.) Still every genuine decretal is part of the canon law. The same may be said of the decisions of certain congregations of cardi nals which have the force of law, especially that of the council which authoritatively in terprets the decrees of the Council of Trent. So evident was the need of a revision of canon law that at the ecumenic Vatican Coun cil, held in 1870, proposals were made by a number of bishops to have a committee ap pointed, consisting of the most eminent canon ists, to revise the 'Corpus Juris or rather prepare a new one, omitting whatever owing to changed times was no longer applicable. Nothing was done before the adjournment of that council, but Pope Pius X by a mots proprio in the year 1904 appointed a special committee of cardinals, with a number of consultors, and a canonist from each nation, to revise thoroughly not only the 'Corpus Juris> but all the canon law of the Church, that general for the world and that special to the various nations. He himself was president of the committee to which he assigned the fol lowing cardinals: Seraphin Vanutelli, Vincent Vanutelli, Satolli, Rampolla, Gotti, Ferrata, Cassetta, Mathieu, Gennari, Cavic chioni, Merry del Val, Steinhuber, Segna, Vives y Tuto and Cavagnis. Archbishop (later Cardinal) Gasparri was appointed secretary. The plans of the various titles have been con fided to canonists in every country. The gen eral plan of the Code includes (after the pre liminary section) four main divisions: per sons, things (with subdivisions for the sacra ments, sacred places and objects, etc.), trials, crimes and penalties. The articles are num bered consecutively. The work is now com pleted and embodies several modifications and reforms in the ancient law. This code is now the only authorized canon law of the Latin Church.
It will have been noticed that canon law is not traceable to any original code, but is a development founded on the general moral rules laid down in the Scriptures and especially in the New Testament. Neither is the Roman civil law traceable to any code, but is a gather ing of principles suggested by good reasoning for promoting the civil interests of its subjects. Compared to the Jewish law, the principle upon which Roman jurisprudence was founded was very different — the former treats prin cipally of criminal matters and is most severe in its penalties; the latter on the contrary treats all questions as civil, and prefers resti tution to punishment. When the Roman em perors had been converted to Christianity, in promoting its progress by special constitutions which then became part of the canon law, they necessarily gave to canon law much of the spirit of their civil law. Thus it happens that in the canon, as in the Roman civil law, there was little severity in criminal matters, and many cases which other peoples than the Romans treated as criminal were cognizable by a civil tribunal and an indemnification was effected by damages. Generally no crime was punished capitally, especially where no force or violence was employed. This spirit of leniency is manifest throughout canon law to the present day. During and after the 4th century wherever Roman power conquered the nations and wherever Christian missionaries converted the pagans canon law was intro duced through the influence of the Pope and the Emperor. It permeated and modified the laws of the peoples of northern Europe, as well as those of England to a certain extent. With it necessarily came the principles of Ro man civil law. The rules for the application of canon law were as follows: (1) In cases not contained in the civil law, or the rule for which was obscure, open to doubtful inter pretation, or not expressly determined, if ex pressly and clearly resolved by the canon law, this latter formed the basis of the decision; and on the contrary, if the case was not pro vided for, or ambiguously resolved by canon law, when it was expressly met or its solution more clearly indicated by the civil law, this latter was to be preferred. (2) In cases of conflict, the civil law formed the rule for courts of civil, and the canon in those of ec clesiastical, jurisdiction. Thus, when a matter of canon law cognizance arose in the civil courts the decision was given according to the rules of the canon law; and vice-versa, when a question of civil cognizance occurred before an ecclesiastical tribunal. (3) Within the Im perial states the civil law formed the basis, and the canon law in the papal states. (4) In matters of a feudal nature the civil was pre ferred to the canon law. (5) In forensic causes the canon is not presumed to differ from the civil law. When the Western empire passed under the rule of a barbarian race the Roman and the law were not only pre served, but to a great extent they influenced the legislation of the conquerors. Alaric, Attila, Ricimir did not disturb the outward form of Roman government. In the collec tion of West Gothic laws, gathered in 672 A.D., there are evident traces of the part which the Roman clergy took in the compilation. The Burgundian laws also show literal excerpts from the Roman law. Roman law is found also in the Bavarian code composed in the 7th cen tury, as well as in the capitularies of the Franks, which commence in the year 560 and are introduced by a literal transcript of a novel of Valentinian. It is noteworthy that the German tribes did not force their laws upon their subjects in those portions of their conquests where the Roman law was acknowl edged. It was natural, too, that the Churches, as juristical persons, should follow the Roman law, not only on account of its connection with religion and the great degree of favor it manifested toward the Church, but also of the accuracy of its provisions in this respect. Like the law. of the Teutonic tribes, that of Eng land is an accumulation of individual laws. While Britain was conquered by Julius Cwsar in 54 'Lc., still it was only at the end of the 1st century of the Christian era that Roman manners, arts, architecture, language and laws were introduced. The Roman law superseded
the customary laws of the island and remained in force until the year 455, when Britain be came derelict because of the removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople and the im possibility of the emperors defending it against the Picts and Scots. Christianity was intro duced into Britain under the Roman dominion and was preached in Scotland and Ireland be fore the year 430. Roman literature, arts and law, however, received a sudden check by the Saxons, who, when they invaded Britain, im posed their law upon the conquered people. The Danes subsequently did the same. Still we are informed by the Venerable Bede that Ethelbert, king of Kent, in 613, with the as sistance of his wise men, made certain decrees and gave judgments between his subjects in conformity with the principles of Roman and canon law, at least so far as regarded sacrilege, bishops, and the like. Indeed, it is not sur prising that the Saxons and Danes, whose codes contained a great admixture of Roman law, should have carried the same principles with them into their new settlement in England. Traces of a Roman original may be seen in the laws of Ina, king of the West Saxons, Offa, king of the East Angles, and in the laws pub lished by Canute which were translated into Latin. Thus it happened that, when Edward the Confessor compiled a code out of the materials then at hand, much of the Roman and canon law was inserted and thus became the basis of much of the common law of Eng land and the United States. During the do minion of the Saxons and Danes, those Britons who had fled to Wales were governed by their own princes. Howel Dha, in 940, is said to have assembled his bishops and the more literate among the laity for the purpose of revising the law which was translated into Latin at his command. In the 85th article he approves the Roman rule of two witnesses being sufficient in cases where no specific num ber is stated, and for holding the testimony of one to be insufficient, except of a woman in cases of rape, of a lord between two tenants, an abbot between two monks, a father between two of his children, a priest in a matter at tested in his presence, and a thief turning king's evidence in the place of execution. Most of the Roman laws of this age seem to have been taken from the Theodosian code. Although the foot of the Roman soldier never trod on the bosom of Ireland, nor did a Roman general have a chance to introduce the Roman law, still the principles of canon law were enforced throughout Ireland and Scot land by Saint Patrick in his canons. One of them, translated by the Anglican Bishop Usher, reads: *Wherever any cause that is very diffi cult and unknown to all the judges of the Scottish nation shall arise, it is rightly to be referred to the see of the archbishop of the Irish (that is, of Saint Patrick) and to the examination of the prelate thereof. But if there, by him and his wise men, a cause of this nature cannot easily be made up, we have de creed it shall be sent to the see apostolic, that is, to the chair of the Apostle Peter, which hash authority of the city of Rome? In 680, at the command of Ethelred, Egf rid, king of Northumberland, Aldwulf, king of the East Angles, and Lother, king of Kent, Theo dore, at that time archbishop of Canterbury, summoned a synod at Hatfield, in which the canons of the five general councils of Nicma, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, the second of Constantinople, were enforced, together with the concilia drawn up under Pope Martin at Rome in 64& He also collected in his capitu lanes the most important points of Church discipline. Later he wrote his 'Book of Pen ances.' In the latter half of the 8th century, Egbert of York made an extensive collection of canon law from the sources then existing. He also wrote the book Remediis Peccatorum.) In the 8th century a collection was made in Ireland in which the Dionysian collection and Roman, Gallic and Irish councils are used. King Henry I, in 1100, endeavored to repudiate a number of Church laws and ordered that Peter's Pence was to be paid to the King in stead of the Pope. Henry II entered into a controversy over the enforcement of canon law with Thomas a Becket. In 1215, by the Magna Charta, King John confirmed to the prelates and barons of his kingdom the freedom of election of the clergy, and this acted as a gen eral acknowledgment of ecclesiastical rights and liberties. In 1230, Otho, the legate of Pope Gregory IX, held a national synod, and in 1268 Othobon, the legate of Pope Clement IV, held a second, both of which, as Blackstone says, had a great effect on the ecclesiastical jurispru dence of England. Under King Henry III, Bonif ace, archbishop of Canterbury, enacted several canons which seemed against the exist ing laws of the realm, and under Stephen an ecclesiastical and a secular party were formed, the latter adhering to the common law as tenaciously as the clergy and nobility did to the canon and civil law. In the Parliament of Merton, however, the adherents of the canon and civil law were defeated on the proposition to make legitimatio per subsequens matrimonium legal also in England as it was under canon and civil law. Under Richard II, more than 100 years later, the feud still existed. Anglo canon law was further augmented by the de crees of provincial councils held under the arch bishops of Canterbury, from Stephen Langton to Henry Chichiley, which were glossed by William Lindwood, and later enforced also by the archbishops of York. The Icing meantime had also enacted many statutes on the relations between secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. A statute of Henry VIII rendered void all canons which were contrary to the law of the realm or hurtful to the royal prerogatives, and provided a commission to revise them. Edward VI renewed the commission, but the code was not confirmed before his death. Mary repealed all these acts, but Elizabeth revived the first act of Henry VIII. In 1603 some canons were made in the convocation of the province of Canterbury and confirmed by the king but not by Parliament. It is held that, therefore, these bind the clergy in Church matters, but not the laity, except in so far as not repugnant to the laws of the realm. By acts of Parliament (26 Henry VII, 1; 35 Henry VIII, 3; 1 Elizabeth 1) the king was declared the supreme head of the Church, and it became treason (1 Ed. VI, 12; 5 Eliz., 1) to doubt it or to defend the supremacy of the Pope as head of the Church_ These acts and subsequent ones reversed canon law in England, Ireland and Scotland. Speak ing of the courts of the archbishops and bishops of the English Church to-day, Black stone says: *An appeal lies from all these courts to the sovereign in the last resort, which proves that the jurisdiction exercised in them is derived from the crown of England. . . . It appears beyond a doubt that the civil and canon laws, though admitted in some cases by custom in some courts, are only subordinate and lege: sub graviori lege. They are by no means with us a distinct, independent species of law, but are inferior branches of the cus tomary or unwritten laws of England.' In Scotland many of the provisions of canon law became the law of the land. During the 16th and 17th centuries canon law was taught in the Scottish universities, and from 'very early times many of the youths of Scotland attended the schools of the Continent, whence not a few returned as doctors in utroque jure, that is, canon and civil law. The canons of provincial councils, held yearly, and at whose meetings representatives of the king were present, constituted a national canon law which was recognized by the Pope and by Parliament and enforced m the courts of law. Even to this day, though the ecclesiastical system of the country is Presbyterian, the old canon law still prevails to a certain extent. "So deep bath this canon law been rooted,.° says Lord Stair in his Institutes of the Law of Scot land,' "that even where the Pope's authority is rejected yet consideration must be had to these laws, not only as those by which the Church benefices have been erected and ordered, but as likewise containing many equitable and profitable laws which, because of their weighty matter and their once being received may more fitly be retained than rejected.° In two old acts of the Scotch Parliament, made in 1540 and 1551, the canon and Roman law are men tioned as the common law of the country the clause used being athe common law, baith canon, civil and statutes of the realme.° Since the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, and in Scotland in 1878, the churches under Roman jurisdiction have held various councils and enacted laws to fit the changed conditions. These laws, having been examined by the committee of cardinals in Rome appointed for such purpose, have become, as it were, a national canon law for the Cath olics of those countries. In a similar way the Catholics of newly established nations, owing to various reasons, are ruled by a modified canon law which gives the bishops and superiors a very extensive authority. Such is the case at present in Canada, Australia and the United States. These modifications pertain chiefly to the election of bishops, the appointment and removal of parish clergy, the tenure and ad ministration of Church property. The second and third plenary councils of Baltimore con tain special modifications for the United States. For Mexico, West Indies and South America a council was held in Rome of the bishops of those countries, and its decrees were published in 1901. Other national modifications of canon law in the course of time have been introduced by concordats made by the Pope with the rulers of Christian nations by which he grants them certain concessions. As a nation Spain enjoys the greatest concessions. The councils held in Gaul in the 4th and following centuries show the beginning of a national canon law for France. The fourth canon• of the Council of Arles, convoked by King Clovis in 511, prohibited certain laymen and teachers from receiving holy orders without the king's con sent. The Council of Orleans, in 549, shows that at that time the king's consent was neces sary for the election of bishops. Many points regarding a special liturgy, the administration of the sacraments, the matter and forms of ecclesiastical trials are to be found in these same early councils. The laws of Dagobert, in 620, show special protection given the Church but also lay the foundation for future subjection ; for councils could not be held with out consent of the king, and bishops were elected not infrequently at the dictation of roy alty. But the capitularies of Charlemagne and his successors, collected in 825 by the abbot Ansegiso, were very favorable to the Church. Under the third dynasty, especially because of the feudal law, bishops, abbots and chapters exercised almost complete civil authority over the people in their charge; but the oath of fealty was imposed on the prelates as vassals of the king. On the other hand, the kings took upon themselves the defense and guardian ship of the Church, and on the pretext that at the death of the prelate they were the guardians of the vacant see, they performed many acts of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, among which was the administration of the temporalities of the vacant church. This was not done, however, without the assent of the sovereign pontiffs. Herein is found the origin of jut Regalia which later caused such trouble. In the year 1268 a pragmatic sanction was issued by Saint Louis which gave liberty of election of bishops and ordered that the general canon law should be observed throughout France. However, the genuineness of this law has been seriously questioned. Under Philip the Fair the seeds of absolute independence of the secular from the spiritual authority were sown; and about the same time serious contests arose between clerical and lay judges concerning their juris diction. On appeal to the king the clergy won; but the jurisdiction of the Church was gradu ally lessened, and at this time the appeal "as from abuse° was introduced, that is, a clergy man might appeal to the king from an abuse of the power exercised by a bishop. This was diametrically opposed to general canon law. The great schism of the West brought out the question whether the Pope or an ecumenical council were superior, and the controversy be came especially bitter in France. Charles VII selected certain passages from the Conciliabule of Basel, and in 1438 issued a pragmatic sanc tion in which the superiority of the council over the Pope was declared, and elections both to episcopal sees and in monasteries were to be held after the ancient law of France. Louis XI suppressed this decree, but it was revived after his death until finally condemned by the Fifth Lateran Council, and changed by the concordat made between Leo X and Francis I. In this concordat many of the dispositions of the pragmatic were preserved; but the con cordat differed from the pragmatic in this: that in place of the election of bishops and prelates in case of vacancy the king was given the right to present to the sovereign pontiff, within six months, a doctor or licentiate in theology who should be at least 27 years of age and other wise competent. The pontiff would grant insti tution. The Parliament, after a long contest, agreed to the execution of this concordat. Herein is seen the beginning of the system of government nomination of bishops, concern ing which, in 1903-04, the Pope and the French government were at variance. In the 16th cen tury the government long opposed the publica tion of the decrees of the council of Trent, but finally, without mentioning the source, the chief decrees, word for word, were ppublished in 1579 by royal order. In 1681 the Gallican clergy, at the instance of the government, met in extraor dinary convention and adopted a declaration favoring the extension of the Regalia to all France. This was repudiated by Pope Innocent XI. The next year the Gallican clergy adopted four propositions in which they attacked the Holy See in administering temporal matters, and declared that the judgment of the Pope on a matter of faith was not irreformable except when the consent of the Church had been added.