‘Tempering the Wind …’: Moderation and Discretion in Late Twelfth-Century Papal Decretals

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 180-190
Author(s):  
Anne J. Duggan
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Law School ◽  
The People ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Medieval Canon Law

Medieval canon law has generally had a bad press. Its professionalization in the period c. 1140 to 1234 can easily be caricatured as the emergence of a rigid, centralized, and authoritarian system which paid small heed to the needs of the people it was supposed to serve. This conclusion is readily sustained by perusal of theLiber Extra, the GregorianDecretalesof 1234, which enshrined the legal developments of the period, from about 1140, which followed the establishment of Gratian’sDecretumas the principal authority for the teaching and practice of canon law. The genesis of theLiber Extrais well known. Pope Gregory IX commissioned Raymond of Peñafort to compile an authoritative collection of papal decretals and conciliar legislation to supplement Gratian’sDecretum, and it drew, principally but not exclusively, on the so-calledQuinqe compilationes antiquewhich had been compiled for teaching purposes in Bologna between c. 1189–91 and 1226.’ And when the work was completed, it was authorized by the bullRex pacificus, which ordered that ‘everyone should useonlythis compilation in judgements and in the schools (ut hactantumcompilatione universi utantur in iudiciis et in scholis); and a copy was duly dispatched to the canon law school in Bologna. The image of centralized, authoritarian lawmaking could not be clearer; and that perception is reinforced by an examination of its structure, where the individual extracts are organized systematically under Titles, which define the subject matter. Such a compilation, like theQuinque compilationesthemselves, was the result of an analytical method, which totally obscured the processes of consultation which had preceded many of the decisions, as well as depriving them, in many cases, of their historical context in terms of the identity of the pope, the recipient, the litigants, and the local circumstances. What emerged was a disembodied code, shorn of the nuances and hesitations which had characterized the decisions which it enshrined.

Between Guess Work and Certainty in Psychiatry

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1958 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 949-949
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Individual Animal ◽  
Fundamental Distinction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Rational Inquiry

"The safeguards contained in the scientific method are repugnant to some who devote themselves to psychotherapy, and their argument against it always harks back to the uniqueness of the individual." The author points out that this is an obscurantist argument and it does not follow that because an individual is a unique reality, he cannot be compared with anyone else. On this basis there would be no science of zoology as every individual animal is also a unique reality, but this has not been an obstacle to comparison and collective study in this science. The argument is reminiscent of claims prevalent during the controversies about evolution when the opponents asserted that man was an improper subject for comparitive study because of his fundamental distinction from all other creatures. Only insofar as the common denominators between individuals can be ascertained may the subject matter of psychiatry become the object of scientific and rational inquiry and without this it could not be taught. We would be in the position of having to accept the pronouncements of supposedly singularly gifted individuals on faith, and continuity in the field would presumably depend entirely upon apprenticeship.

Notes on a Projected Corpus of Twelfth-Century Decretal Letters

Traditio ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 345-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Kuttner
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Critical Edition ◽  
Sharp Contrast ◽  
Critical Problem ◽  
Individual Letter ◽  
The Individual

Medieval historians, diplomatists, and canonists alike will welcome the news from Gottingen that Professor W. Holtzmann is preparing the critical edition of a corpus of papal decretals of the twelfth century. It is altogether fitting that this project should be undertaken by a scholar universally recognized as the foremost authority on the decretal collections; and also that he should have decided to detach it from the G6ttingen Academy's monumental enterprise, as designed and directed for over forty years by the late Paul Kehr, which has as its ultimate goal a complete edition of the twenty thousand odd papal letters extant from the earliest times to the accession of Innocent III-an enterprise which we may not hope to see completed within this generation. Professor Holtzmann, in the course of his connection with the general Papeturlcundenuierks, has come to realize that the decretal letters of the twelfth century offer both an historical interest and a critical problem of their own. The first is easily seen by their paramount significance, especially since the pontificate of Alexander III, for the development of Canon law in doctrine and its consolidation in practice; the second consists in the peculiarities connected with their being transmitted in collections made by canonists for the use of canonists. The purpose of such collections, i.e. the intention to serve, broadly speaking, the needs of schools and courts, entailed certain well-known textual developments, resulting in a sharp contrast with any kind of archival tradition: neglect of formal elements of the individual letter, especially of its protocol and eschatocol; abbreviation of its juridically irrelevant portions; dissection, at least in the systematic collections, of slecretals dealing with divers matters in order to distribute their contents under several titles, etc.

Unicums, Fragments, and Other Hebrew Book Rarities

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-153
Author(s):  
Marvin Heller
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Rare Books ◽  
The Individual

The subject matter of this article is unique or rare editions of early Hebrew books. Due to varying external circumstances, these rare books are extant only in fragments, unique single exemplars, or in a limited number of copies. Although Hebrew texts were subject to the same ravages of time and, perhaps, occasional indifference as were other early books, they also suffered to a much greater extent than their non-Hebrew counterparts from the indignities and deeds, or more accurately misdeeds, of anti-Semites who expended their wrath not only on Jews but also directed their venom towards Jewish books. The article is not about the causes of book rarity per se, but rather describes a variety of Hebrew works, either of the individual title, or, in some instances, of a particular edition of a reprinted work that is extant today in a single or a limited number of copies.

Suffrage Provisions in State Constitutions

1919 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-592
Author(s):  
Kirk H. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Expert Advice ◽  
General Outline ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Legislative Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Vain Attempt ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Similar Legislation

Within recent years there has been a tendency to give more careful attention to the technique of legislation. In the past proposed laws have often been prepared by legislators who knew what they wanted, but were not able to express their wishes in scientifically constructed form. It is desirable of course that representatives of the people should determine legislative policy; and yet it is not counter to any intelligent principle of democracy that the drafting of bills should be done by experts who can put in brief though adequate phrases the essence of what the technically unskilled representative may want. It should be their task to use political machinery intelligently, and to warn the overzealous advocate against using it in a vain attempt to achieve an end which mayhap cannot be secured through political machinery at all. It is right that the people, through democratic channels of popular assemblies, should determine what they want; but it is no less proper that use should be made of those with special training to formulate ways and means.Some states have already established legislative reference bureaus which do the work of bill drafting. The individual legislator goes to the bureau with a general outline of a law he has in mind. The bureau renders expert advice on the subject matter of the bill, if such advice is wanted, and proceeds to draft a measure embracing the subject in hand. The staff connected with the bureau should be prepared to offer advice as to the constitutionality of the proposed law, to cite precedents in other states if such can be found, and to express an opinion as to the probable attitude of the courts when interpreting it. Information should be at hand regarding the experience of other states, or indeed other countries, with similar legislation.

scholarly journals A Methodology for Providing Individualised Computer-generated Feedback to Students

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Michael Lambiris
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Specific Test ◽  
Constructive Feedback ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Student’S Performance ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Insight Into

The traditional way of providing feedback to students after tests or assignments is labour-intensive. This paper explains the concepts and techniques used by the author to build computer-based applications that analyse students’ answers and generate individualised, detailed and constructive feedback. The paper explains how the data gathered from a student’s answers can be combined with other knowledge about the subject matter being taught, and the specific test questions, to create computerised routines that evaluate the individual student’s performance. This information can be presented in ways that help students to assess their progress, both in relation to their acquired knowledge in specified areas of study, and with regard to their ability to exercise relevant skills. In this way, appropriate feedback can be provided to large numbers of students quickly and efficiently. The same techniques can be used to provide information to the instructor about the performance of the group as a whole, with a degree of detail and accuracy that exceeds the impressions usually gained through traditional marking. The paper also explains the role of the subject instructor in designing and creating feedback-generating applications. The methodologies described provide insight into the details of the process and are a useful basis for further experimentation and development.

scholarly journals Nihilism and the Roots of Crisis in American Democracy: A Diagnosis of Cornel West

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Julian Jeliński
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Cornel West

Cornel West’s diagnosis of the crisis of the American democracy is the subject matter of this article. Analyzing the condition of the American democracy of the end of XX and the beginning of XXI centuries, C. West focused on the individual, existential character of the crisis. The diagnosed state had according to him much affect not only on political issues, but first and foremost on the spread of nihilism among American citizens. Nihilism – is understood in the C. West as senselessness of life and low self-esteem is the subject matter of this article.

scholarly journals Threats posed by serious and organised crime for the safety and security of tourism in Poland.

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-36
Author(s):  
Kamil Martyniak
Keyword(s):  
Organised Crime ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Tourism Product ◽  
The People ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Unique Specificity ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Desk Research ◽  
Critical Literature

The growing impact and relevance of safety and security in tourism can be discerned in the increasingly more substantial foreign and Polish academic literature on the subject. Based on the available publications and enhanced by the author’s individual reflections and tourist experiences, the paper attempts to outline a number of issues selected arbitrarily by the author. The goal of this paper is to attempt to define the various threats posed for the safety and security of tourism in Poland, and to look at the salient problems and dilemmas that may, in the nearest future, become the object of further research and enquiries. Being absorbed by the trip implies that tourists frequently fail to pay enough attention to the dangers that await them. Situations of this sort are, indeed, numerous: some are caused by the people themselves, and the origins of others need to be traced in nature. The role of tourism organisers and travel agencies, as well as tourists themselves, is to strive to make sure that trips made to get some sunshine, bathe in warm water sofexotic seas, and expeditions to the mountains do not turn into a nightmare (Mansfeld 2006). Each type of tourism has its unique specificity that goes with smaller or bigger chances of fortuitous events. It is not just the specific nature of the above types of tourism that can trigger a variety of fortuitous events, but also at the individual stages of consumption of a tourism product (Sanetra&Sanetra-Półgrabi 2018) situations can occur that are caused by factors related to tourist transport, and staying at a given rest spot. Admittedly, the essence of tourism rests on people’s travelling to destinations that pride themselves on outstanding tourist qualities, and that are located beyond the place where tourists reside on a permanent basis. This form of travelling constitutes the basic element of the consumption of tourism. This paper is the fruit of critical literature-based research, and desk research conducted on the subject matter at hand.

scholarly journals O is for Orientalism: the dynamics of the sexual tourist gaze in Laurent Cantet’s Vers le sud/Heading South (2005)

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-47
Author(s):  
Charlotte Hammond ◽  
Andrew McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Political Repression ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
Tourist Gaze ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sexual Tourism

This article explores the Orientalist dynamics of North/South sexual tourism in Laurent Cantet’s Vers le sud/Heading South (2005). The narrative of the film is structured around the self-interested motivations of three white middle-aged bourgeois Western women who travel from North America to Haiti in the late 1970s in order to explore their sexuality in what they perceive as an island paradise, effectively exiling themselves from the codified social behavior expected of them in their homeland. The women avail themselves of the pleasures offered by young black Haitian men, often in exchange for money or goods, and fuel one-sided fantasies of romantic love with their local hosts, seemingly oblivious to the Orientalist nature of such an imbalance of social and economic power. The article explores the historical context of the political repression and violence of late-1970s Haiti under the Duvalier regime, as well as the manifestations of spatial politics represented in the film. In its Haitian setting, Vers le sud sheds light on a relatively unfamiliar cultural and social milieu for the Western/Northern audience, with the director keenly aware of the exoticism of the subject matter and the impossibility of the film to maintain its neutrality in a problematic engagement with the Orient/South. The article argues that the privileged position of the film’s protagonists is matched not only by Cantet’s directorial gaze, but also by the intellectual detachment of postcolonial scholars such as the article’s authors, who acknowledge that their engagement with the subject matter risks re-enacting the Orientalist dynamics they seek to expose.

scholarly journals Peter Chaadayev and Michael Katkov: stereotypes and contradictions of images

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1002-1017
Author(s):  
Alexey Vladimirovich Lubkov
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
The People ◽  
Spiritual Tradition ◽  
Linear Movement ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The 19Th Century

This article discusses the complex dialectics between the conservative and the liberal trends in the development of Russia´s socio-political thinking; it does so by studying the worldviews of Peter Chaadaev and Michael Katkov. What makes this issue relevant is the circumstance that the present generations of Russians are searching for their national identity, an identity that has practically been lost in the current circumstances of cultural degradation, of decreasing cultural values in the society, and of shifting meanings. The author compares the conceptions of Russian thinkers and public figures and focuses on the main facts and factors that determined the search for the national identity of social thought in Russia in the 19th century. Considering the methodology of the issue, the author comes to conclusion that it is necessary to turn away from the dichotomy towards an integration, and towards an understanding of the complex and controversial world of an individual in the non-linear movement of history. The task that the present paper formulates is to understand the new logic of the development of socio-political thought in nineteenth-century Russia not on the basis of the traditional contradistinction of the conservative and liberal ideologies, but through the synthesis of their positive principles in the historical context. The author sees the link and succession of the conceptual provisions of Peter Chaadaev and Michael Katkov. The ideology unites various institutions and systems, the individual and the people into a whole, facing the challenges of the country´s modernization. As a result, the well-known formula - autocracy, Orthodoxy, populism (narodnost´) - makes a deep semantic meaning, in close linkage with the original spiritual tradition of collectivity (sobornost´) and spiritual and moral values.

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