The canon law literature of the period after the Decretals of pope Gregory IX (1234) has not been investigated systematically since vol. II of the renowned manual by J. F. von Schulte (1877). The 18 papers collected in this book, originally published between 1971 and 2005, scattered in many specialized periodicals, cover a wide range of canon law texts, including prominent authors as Innocent IV, Hostiensis, Duranti. They are all drawing from a fresh assessment of the manuscript tradition and a critical review of relevant scholarship. The reprinted articles are supplemented by substantial additions and completed by a series of new Exkursus. The presentation of abundant manuscript materials makes up for a sort of reference book, which will be indispensable for any further research in the canon law tradition of the 13th and 14th centuries.

This volume collects the contributions to an international conference held in March 2003 at the German Historical Institute in Rome. In the history of canon law, the late medieval period has been consistently neglected in comparison with the so-called classical epoch. Now historians and jurists want to cast new light on the later period. Dealing with individual institutions and legal subjects, the authors try to define general tendencies in canon law and relate them to the heuristic query reflected in the title of the volume. Special attention is given to the institutions of the Roman curia and its legal practice. The hitherto underestimated value for the history of canon law of the curial sources published by the German Historical Institute in Rome (ARepertorium GermanicumA and ARepertorium Poenitentiariae GermanicumA) is emphasized.