The article highlights the historical and legal aspects of the formation and reformation of church and canon law in Europe in the 11th-13th centuries. It is emphasized that medieval church and canon law remains not only the main source of religious law, but also a key element of modern secular legal systems, and the conceptual ideas and conclusions of medieval canonists remain embodied in the tradition of common law in the English-speaking world and the legal heritage of the countries of continental Europe. Using the example of the historical method, the peculiarities of the formation and reformation of canon law in medieval Europe are shown.
It has been found that the main sources of canon law in the medieval era were normative legal documents, which at that time had the highest legal force and were issued by the Popes: papal bulls, decrees, constitutions. This necessitated their interpretation and clarification. European universities became a kind of centers for teaching canon law and, accordingly, they were the ones who were engaged in the doctrinal elaboration of such canonical and church documents, gave them a legal assessment and implemented their further use, forming the corresponding collections of canonical norms. Medieval ecclesiastical, and especially, canon law was much more than just a set of religious precepts to be followed by believers, since, trying to explain the numerous contradictions that arose in the process of implementing ecclesiastical and canonical norms, canonists had to investigate the legitimacy and limits of both papal , and royal power.
It is proposed to highlight the main stages of formation and reformation of medieval canon law. The main collections of canon law of the European Middle Ages and their influence on the formation of legal science and the role of canonists, who by interpreting and commenting on papal constitutions made a significant contribution to the development of canon law and the formation of the legal system as a whole, are analyzed.
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