Leges non dedignantur sacros canones imitari: Canonical Reinterpretation of Justinian's Novel 83.1 (=Authen. 6.12.1) in Lucius III's Decretals

Abstract

The relation between Roman law and canon law is a multifaceted and highly nuanced issue. The modest aim of this investigation is to present how medieval canonists elaborated on the relation between the two laws on the margins of their commentaries on two papal decretals from the late twelfth century. Both of them were issued by pope Lucius III, and they both referred to the passage from Justinian’s law that the canonists knew from the collection of his legislation in the medieval Authenticum. In it the emperor declared that secular laws should not refrain from imitating sacred rules.1 The research focuses on the most influential commentaries to the decretals written by canonists from the time they were issued up to Panormitanus. To common maxims that attempted to grasp the complexity of the relation between the two laws, such as ‘legista sine canonibus parum valet, canonista sine legibus nihil’ or ‘Ecclesia vivit lege romana’, one may add another maxim—‘leges non dedignantur sacros canones imitari’.2 It seems that both for medieval canonists