The question these articles seek to respond to, in this fifth collection by Jean Gaudemet to be published by Variorum, is how the intellectual elite of the medieval Church perceived the institutions among which they lived - how they portrayed them, and how they sought to influence them. Whether dealing with the papacy and its place in the Church and the world, with the role of the people in government, or with the position of the individual in society, he would argue that this is the essential question. In their response, this elite drew on the Bible and custom, on Roman law and papal letters, in order that the law could encompass all human experience. To achieve this, these jurists needed to create categories and work out principles, hence the recourse to theology and the necessity for a logical structure, a 'systematization'. Ce volume reunit dix-sept etudes parues dans diverses revues ou recueils de Melanges entre 1988 et 1992. Toutes concernent La doctrine canonique medievale telle qu'elle s'exprime (principalement du VIe au XIIIe siecle) A propos des institutions de l'Eglise et de ses relations avec la societe seculiere. Comment l'elite intellectuelle des hommes de l'Eglise medievale a-t-elle perAu les institutions au milieu desquelles elle vivait? Quelle image a-t-elle voulu en donner? Dans quelle voie esperait-elle les orienter? Qu'il s'agisse de la Papaute, de se place dans l'Eglise et dans le Monde, du rAle du Peuple dans le gouvernement, du sort de l'individu dans le group social, de l'entree dans l'Eglise et de la condition de ceux qui lui restent etrangers, la question reste la mAme: Comment le droit peut-il saisir l'infinie variete de l'histoire des hommes?

In this volume Professor Gaudemet examines the growth and development of the law of the Church. The Decretum of Gratian and the corpus of conciliar legislation, two of its principal sources, figure prominently. While, in these studies, the author's interest lies principally with the investigation of the origins of canon law, he insists that one should not lose sight of the broader context and points to many areas that would repay further study. Church law, for instance, should not be taken in isolation but seen as a reflection of the needs and values of its time.