Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)

Ius canonicum

FOLIA THEOLOGICA ET CANONICA (2021) 137-146

Elemér Balogh

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION OF MEDIEVAL HOLY SEES

I. The relationship between the church and criminal law; II. Criminal lawsuits in southern German provinces, 1. Augsburg, 2. Eichstätt, 3. Salzburg

Keywords: Sacra Rota Romana, simony, sacrilege, bigamy, usury, incest, nullum crimen sine lege, Pope Innocent III, excommunicatio, interdictum, Sendgerichtsbarkeit, Augsburg, Eichstätt, Salzburg, lex Baiuvariorum, poena ordinaria, stuprum

An organized part of the legal culture of medieval Europe was the organized judicial system of the Roman Church. The hierarchically structured forum system - culminating in Rome with the Sacra Rota Romana - covered the whole of Latin Europe and continued its judicial activity on the basis of an extremely extensive jurisdiction. However, competence in matters of cases of criminal law, was highly disputed. I.

I. The RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND CRIMINAL LAW

The Church has always demanded the adjudication of crimes of a purely ecclesiastical nature, which, although it can be said to be natural, its relationship to this kind of competence has been very controversial. It is known that ecclesiastical criminal justice was very widespread in the Middle Ages. These included, in particular, torts related to the violation of the Christian faith: simonia, sacrilege, bigamy, incest, etc. There were a good number of miscreants of mixed classification, such as usury, blasphemy, duel, fire - in such and similar cases, due to the nature of the act, a secular forum could be used. It should be noted that in the Middle Ages the jurisdiction of secular and ecclesiastical courts and churches differed only approximately and usually only on the basis of customary law. This is also an addition to the history of the principle of nullum crimen sine lege, insofar as there was no exhaustive list in a modem sense of the individual acts, including the fomm system, or which authority is entitled or obliged to act on a given occasion.