“After Gratian, later papal enactments, called ‘decretals,’ were collected and issued by the authority of various popes…. A revised edition of such ‘decretals’ … was presented to Pope Gregory IX in 1234 — only a short while, therefore, after the final form of Magna Carta in 1225 — and issued by him with statutory force. The revision freely made changes in the text of the enactments and the resulting compilation in four ‘books’ was regarded as a ‘Code,’ corresponding to the ‘Code’ of Justinian, just as the Decretum of Gratian corresponded to the Digest…. All these compilations and collections were, from the sixteenth century on, known as the Corpus Juris Canonici, the ‘Body of Canon Law,’ and formed the basis of the law administered in the Church courts.” Max Radin, Handbook of Anglo-American Legal History 33–34 (1936).
corpus juris canonici
Corpus Juris Canonici (kor-p[schwa]s joor-is k[schwa]-non-[schwa]-sI). [Latin] Hist. The body of the canon law, compiled from the decrees and canons of the Roman Catholic Church. • The Corpus Juris Canonici emerged during the 12th century, beginning with the publication of Gratian’s Decretum (c. 1140). In addition to the Decretum, it includes Raymond of Peñaforte’s Liber Extra (1234), the Liber Sextus of Pope Boniface VIII (1298), the Clementines of Pope Clement V (1313), the Extravagantes Joannis of Pope John XXII (1325), and Extravagantes Communes published by Pope John’s successors (1499–1502). In 1582, the entire collection was edited by a commission of church dignitaries and officially named the Corpus Juris Canonici. It remained the Catholic Church’s primary body of law until the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law in 1917, now replaced by that of 1983.
