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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Decretal

Decretal \De*cre"tal\, n. [LL. decretale, neut. of L. decretalis. See Decretal, a.]

  1. (R. C. Ch.) An authoritative order or decree; especially, a letter of the pope, determining some point or question in ecclesiastical law. The decretals form the second part of the canon law.

  2. (Canon Law) The collection of ecclesiastical decrees and decisions made, by order of Gregory IX., in 1234, by St. Raymond of Pennafort.

Decretal

Decretal \De*cre"tal\, a. [L. decretalis, fr. decretum. See Decree.] Appertaining to a decree; containing a decree; as, a decretal epistle.
--Ayliffe.

Wiktionary
decretal

a. Pertaining to a decree. n. 1 A papal decree. 2 (context now rare English) Any decree or pronounced instruction.

Wikipedia
Decretal

Decretals (epistolae decretales) are letters of the pope that formulate decisions in ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church.

They are generally given in answer to consultations but are sometimes given due to the initiative of the pope himself. These furnish, with the canons of the councils, the chief source of the legislation of the church, and formed the greater part of the Corpus Iuris Canonici before they were formally replaced by the Codex Iuris Canonici of 1917. However, Cardinal Pietro Gasparri led the papal commission for the revision of canon law and later on published a guide to the fontes (sources) used in the 1917 code, many canons in this code can easily be retraced in their relationship to and dependency on medieval decretals as well as Roman law.

In themselves, the medieval decretals form a very special source which throws light on medieval conflicts and the approaches to their solution. They are sometimes concerned with very important issues touching on many aspects of medieval life, for example marriage and legal procedure.

Usage examples of "decretal".

The decretals need decreting, the world it needs its words, Lord Lucer to the mines again, Beangern to his fiefdom, Alice to her Judgment Chair.

The Synods and Decretals, the Balances, the Code of Provinces, and all the rest: I trust you recall those things?

As Clement V died before the collection had been generally published, John XXII promulgated it anew, 25 October, 1317, and sent it to the University of Bologna as the authorative Corpus of decretals to be used in the courts and schools.

The Corpus includes the following collections of cannons and decretals: The Decretum of Gratian (1142), the Liber Extra (1234), the Liber Sextus (1298), the Constitutiones Clementinae (1318 or 1317), and the two books of Extravagantes, -- the Extravagantes of John XXIV, and the Extravagantes Communes.

God hath commanded to keep oath and faith even with an enemy, and thou undertakest to loose this His commandment, and ordainest in thine heretical, antichristian decretals that thou hast His power.