Folia Theologica 3. (1992)
Charles Duggan: Decretal letters to Hungary
DECRETAL LETTERS 15 of the harvest or the fruits of trees, a definite answer cannot be given if they are produced in a parish in which the payers do not reside, since custom varies on this point, and the archbishop should choose whichever gives rise to least scandal. Other sections deal with delegated jurisdiction and frustratory appeals. The jurisdiction of a delegate does not lapse with the death of the delegator, if the litigation has already begun; and in the case of frustratory appeals, an appropriate term should be set, and the appellant must submit to the judge from whom he appeals, if he fails to pursue the appeal within the term. Further, a clerk can be tried only by an ecclesiastical judge, above all in criminal matters, even if the custom of the realm holds that thieves are subject to secular judges. The imperial law follows the canons in this, and no custom should be prejudicial to them. Finally, following the maxim actor forum rei sequatur}1 it is more appropriate that thieves should be brought first before secular judges, but if these fail to do justice or are negligent, the accused can be judged by the church. The closing section of the letter, Cum sit generaliter traditum... convenire, was earlier thought to be a separate item, and the component parts therefore have two numbers in JL and even in Holtzmann’s register, and the final passage is therefore not included in his printed critical edition. But the evidence of the manuscripts, especially Cott., Pet., Tann. and Sang, is conclusive. All the relevant collections preceding the famous thirteenth- century works are English or Anglo-Norman, except for the Oriel manuscript of the Bamberg collection (Bamb.O), which has evident English associations; and part (a) appears as an addition in a different hand, at the end of Book II in the Worcester collection (Wig. 2.+38), though it does not appear in Lohmann’s printed analysis through photographic error. Lucius III Strigoniensi archiepiscopo. (a) Ad apostolice sedis regimen licet immeriti dignatione vocati divina omnibus sumus ecclesie filiis debitores et pro scientie nostre modo respondere cogimur consultationibus singulorum. Intelleximus autem ex litteris tuis quod quedam consuetudo in Ungaria inolevit, ut multitudo populi plerumque de parochia unius episcopi in alterius diocesim transferant, in qua licet per multa tempora moram habuerint uterque tamen episcoporum, 17 17 Cf. Ideo inter alios, Alexander III to the bishop of Győr, VI below.
