The Sixth Book (_Liber Sextus_), a supplement to the Decretals
by Pope Boniface VIII, 1298.
4. The Constitutions of Clementine (_Constitutiones
Clementinae_), 1317.
5. Several collections of papal laws not included in those above,
known by the general title of _Extravagantes_, i.e., laws _extra
vagantes_, or outside of, the four compilations just mentioned.
Among all these the _Decretum_ of Gratian was the great innovation
which first marked out Canon Law as a distinct field of learning,
separate from both Theology and Roman Law. It was written as a
text-book; "it was one of those great text-books which take the world by
storm." It created an entirely new class of students, separate from
those devoted to Arts, Theology, Roman Law, and Medicine,--just as the
development of Engineering and other new professional studies have
created new groups of university students to-day,--and thereby increased
the resort to the universities.
The selection following illustrates numerous characteristics of
mediaeval university study. (1) The question itself is a very ancient
subject of debate; the controversy, on religious grounds, concerning the
study of the classics, had already continued for nearly a thousand
years, and was destined to continue for centuries after the appearance
of the _Decretum_. Many such questions were debated in the universities
for generations.
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