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IMC 2017: Sessions

Session 333: Sources of Legal Authority: Ius commune and Customary Law in Conversation, III - 'A law by any other name would act as well', Defining and Creating Law in the Central Middle Ages

Monday 3 July 2017, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Iuris Canonici Medii Aevi Consociatio (ICMAC) / Institute for Legal & Constitutional Research, University of St Andrews
Organisers:Matthew McHaffie, Department of History, King's College London
Danica Summerlin, Department of History, University of Sheffield
Moderator/Chair:Joseph Goering, Department of History, University of Toronto, Downtown
Paper 333-aFrom Natural Law to Canon Law: Lex naturalis and History of Salvation through the Writings of Johannes Faventinus and Peter Lombard
(Language: English)
Riccardo Saccenti, Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologna / Istituto di Storia dell'Europa Mediterranea, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Cagliari
Index terms: Canon Law, Ecclesiastical History, Law
Paper 333-b'New' and 'Old': Contemplating the Hierarchy of Authorities in Later 12th-Century (Canon) Law
(Language: English)
Danica Summerlin, Department of History, University of Sheffield
Index terms: Administration, Canon Law, Ecclesiastical History, Law
Paper 333-cThe Authority of Writing and Non-Written Law: The Development of ius non scriptum in the Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Ada Maria Kuskowski, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania
Index terms: Canon Law, Law, Political Thought
Abstract

Ius commune and customary law are often seen as resting on different principles to structure legal authority and decision-making. The authority of written law in the ius commune is contrasted with the importance of precedent and consensus in customary law. Such distinctions have often been deployed by historians to argue for the sophistication of ius commune law in comparison to customary law, where the latter stands as a muddle of divergent practices when seen against the systematic organisation of the former, even though so stark an opposition now feels outmoded and inadequate. These sessions seek connections and commonalities between these two broad approaches to law in medieval Europe.