Num praescriptione omnia iura tolluntur? : Parisian canonists on prescription and the limitation of actions

Abstract

In Paris the canonists strived at interpreting the canons on praescriptio in such a way that they concurred with Roman law. A clear and early example provides the summa Parisiensis , written in the late 1160s. Stephen of Tournai and other jurists followed its example modelling the praescriptio canonica after the longissimi temporis praescriptio in the Corpus iuris. In this line of thought praescriptio firstly denotes a defence of limitation. In Bologna, by requiring continuous good faith and a title, Rufin had modelled the praescriptio canonica after the Roman-law longi temporis praescriptio , which had both liberative and acquisitive effect. The author of Animal est substantia , the last major work of the Parisian school, seems to have aimed at harmonizing both interpretations, but the decretal Quoniam omne (4Conc. Lat. c.41; X 2.26.20) superseded his solution.