Origin of Law

Decorative pen-work flourishes in red ink run down the left margin, featuring scrolls and delicate lines associated with the illuminated initial.

Here begins the judicial process of the eminent doctor of canon law, Johannes de Urbach.

A large decorative initial 'I' at the start of the main text, rendered in blue and red. Inside the letter, there is a miniature depicting a tonsured figure in a red robe, possibly a canon lawyer or cleric, holding a book and gesturing.
In the name of the Lord, Amen. The King of Peace is the effective and final cause of all things. reference: Decretum Gratiani, Causa 1, quaestio 1, "De reliquiis et veneratione sanctorum". God, glorious in the beginning reference: Liber Sextus, De summa trinitate et fide catholica, created man in His own image reference: Decretum Gratiani, Causa 34, quaestio 5, "Haec imago"; De poenitentia, distinctio 2, "Principio rectam creavit". And he disposed that those subject to Him should be chaste, peaceful, and honest, as in the prologue of the Gregorian compilation, by creating the natural law for their regulation reference: Distinctio 5, in principio. This natural law was sufficient for the regimen of created man according to the status of the first disposition of the Creator Himself. Since the Creator Himself knows no imperfect work, by this law all things were common reference: Distinctio 1, "Ius naturale"; Distinctio 8, "Quo iure". But because those subjects did not remain such according to the disposition and will of the Creator—for when the human race multiplied, wars arose among the nations and the domains of things were distinguished reference: Digest, De iustitia et iure, law "Ex hoc iure"; Distinctio 1, "Ius gentium"—and man entangled himself in infinite questions, and those subjects were eager for

human

the property of others, therefore lawsuits arose. Whence Seneca says: "Men would live most quietly on earth if these two pronouns, 'mine' and 'yours,' were not, or were removed from the midst." And he says elsewhere: "We would be ours if they were not ours." For unbridled greed, arising from the corruption of the human condition, hating peace and nourishing and inducing lawsuits and quarrels, generates so many new disputes that there are more affairs than words reference: Digest, De praescriptionibus verbis, law "Naturaliter". And in the prologue of the aforementioned compilation, since human nature is prone to dissent reference: De consecratione, distinctio 4, "Sicut in sacramentis"; De concessione praebendae, "Quia diversitatem", it hastens to bring forth new forms reference: Code, De veteri iure enucleando, law 2, paragraph "Sed quia divinae". Hence it is that the form of litigating and pleading seems to have arisen in paradise. For when Adam was rebuked by the Lord for disobedience, he transferred the report of this crime onto his spouse, indeed onto the author of the spouse, when he said: "The woman whom you gave me as a companion deceived me, and I ate" reference: De poenitentia, distinctio 2, "Serpens". Likewise, the King is confirmed by the old law in the origin of judgments. For Moses says: "In the mouth of two or three [witnesses the matter shall be established]" reference: Deuteronomy 15; De re iudicata, "Novit"; De testibus, "In omni". Likewise also in the New Testament. Whence the Apostle: "If you have secular judgments, etc." reference: 1 Corinthians; Causa 16, quaestio 1, "Ex his". Therefore, for such a state of corrupted nature, the law of nature did not suffice, but the promulgation of positive law was necessary. For unless lawsuits were repressed by justice, there would be no concord in the world. Therefore, the invention of human law was necessary to the effect that it might restrain such harmful appetite and inform men in the three precepts of law, namely: to live honestly, to harm no one, and to give each person his due reference: Digest, De iustitia et iure, law "Iuris praecepta"; and in the prologue cited above, so that the audacity of men might be curbed.