Strong statements of freedom of choice <in the medieval canon law> were qualified by other canonical principles and other rules of law, it remains true that the statements were there <in the jurisprudence>. Some of them did not have to await more recent times before they produced more sophisticated thought . . . that would augment freedom of choice for the men and women of the world.
	Helmholz, Richard H. The Spirit of Classical Canon Law (The Spirit of the Laws. Athens-London: University of Georgia Press, 1996) 252