Definition
Papal letters or canonical epistles issued by the pope—alone or together with the cardinals—that determined contested points of ecclesiastical law and carried the force of binding legal authority within the Roman Catholic Church. The decretals were not general legislative pronouncements drafted on the pope's own initiative; they arose responsively, written at the suit or instance of a petitioner seeking resolution of a specific controversy, yet their rulings applied as universal law once issued.
The Decretals also designates the second of the two great structural divisions of the body of canon law—the first being the Decree (Decretum)—and refers specifically to the collection of such papal letters compiled and organized for systematic use. The most significant collection was assembled by Raymundus de Peñafort (also rendered Raymundus Farcinius in some sources), chaplain to Pope Gregory IX, in the thirteenth century, and the resulting compilation is commonly known as the Decretals of Gregory IX or the Liber Extra.
Common Confusion
Decretals are frequently conflated with decrees, but the distinction matters. A decree (decretum) in the canon law context was a general legislative or doctrinal pronouncement, while a decretal originated as a responsive ruling on a particular dispute—analogous, very roughly, to the difference between a statute and a judicial opinion. Researchers also occasionally conflate the Decretals as a body of documents with a decretal as a single letter; the plural form properly describes both the collection and the class of documents within it.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in ecclesiastical law, medieval legal history, or the history of the common law will encounter the Decretals as a foundational source. Their importance extends beyond church history: English ecclesiastical courts operated under canon law well into the modern period, and disputes over probate, marriage, legitimacy, and tithes were decided in part by reference to decretal authority. Understanding that the Decretals are a compiled, structured body of law—not a single document—is essential for locating the relevant source.
The structure of canon law sources trips up researchers unfamiliar with the field. The Corpus Juris Canonici, the overarching body of canon law, contains multiple components: Gratian's Decretum (c. 1140), the Decretals of Gregory IX (1234), the Liber Sextus of Boniface VIII (1298), the Clementines, and later additions. A source citing "the Decretals" may mean only the Gregorian collection or the broader category of papal letters generally. Context determines which is intended.
Historical sources in the Law Mind corpus frequently abbreviate or elide these distinctions. Nineteenth-century American legal dictionaries treat the Decretals as a curiosity of ecclesiastical law rather than a working research tool, which reflects the declining relevance of canon law to American practice but may mislead researchers examining colonial-era or early republic ecclesiastical disputes.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus are consistent on core points—the Decretals are papal letters determining points of ecclesiastical law, possessing the force of law, and forming the second major division of canon law—but vary in the depth of treatment.
Bouvier's is the most informative of the group, noting that the decretals were published in three volumes and attributing their collection to Raymundus (Farcinius), chaplain to Gregory IX. This detail correctly identifies the Gregorian compilation, though the name "Farcinius" appears to be a variant or corruption of "Peniafortensis" (de Peñafort). Both Black's editions give essentially identical entries: concise, accurate, and limited. Burrill directs readers to the broader entry on canon law, treating the Decretals primarily as a structural category. Rapalje & Lawrence offer only a cross-reference to Canon Law, which is unhelpful for a term of this complexity.
None of the historical dictionaries explain the internal organization of the Decretals or their relationship to the other components of the Corpus Juris Canonici—a gap that limits their utility for research purposes.
Jurisdictional Note
The Decretals had direct legal force in ecclesiastical courts throughout Catholic Europe and, before the Reformation, in England. After the English Reformation, canon law authority in England was substantially modified but not wholly abolished; ecclesiastical courts retained jurisdiction over certain matters, and decretal sources continued to be cited. In the American legal tradition, the Decretals have no direct operative force but remain relevant to understanding the historical background of family law, probate, and ecclesiastical institutions.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Canon Law; Ecclesiastical Courts; Corpus Juris Canonici