|
St. Matthew's Executioner, Caravaggio, Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (Detail) 1599-1600, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome |
The
most recent scholarship (Kéry) has demonstrated that prelates had been
ordered to investigate (inquisitio veritatis) since the pontificate of Pope
Alexander III (1159-1181). By the end of the pontificate of Innocent III
the obligation and the duty of bishops to prosecute clerical crimes had
become firmly established as an important part of ecclesiastical procedure.
Lotte Kéry, “Inquisitio - denunciatio -
exceptio: Möglichkeiten der Verfahrenseinleitung im Dekretalenrecht,”
Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Kanonistische
Abteilung 87 (2001) 226-268. |
