Decretist Explained

In the history of canon law, a decretist was a student and interpreter of the . 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 and References

1. 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.