Abstrakt: | As early as in the Ancient church the bishop’s task was to adjudicate conflicts between the
congregation. The sense o f responsibility for the congregation and the lifestyle o f a Christian
district make the bishops exercise the judiciary o f peace. It must have functioned pretty well as
Constantine accepted the efficiency o f adjudications on the civil forum given by bishops (“episcopalis
audientia”) in 318. A special attention was paid to the procedures, but the rational
methods o f proof were worked out only after the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). The procedures
were to lead to establish the truth whereas the way to it was seen in a dispute. A court trial was
based on a university dispute: present the issue, formulate the thesis, prove it and draw a
conclusion. A court trial is a hypothesis discussed in the court. The subject o f discussion,
deriving from the plaintiff’s complaint and a reply o f the defendant’s side, was precisely defined,
the proceeding took place according to the precisely defined steps, the judge was in charge o f the
behaviour o f the argumentation rules. This Roman-Canonical process was governed by the rule of
the formal truth. The canons could not discern the problem o f the unfair sentence. The discussion
over it made it possible to accept in some cases the means against an unfair sentence and
differentiate between the earthly and the spiritual. The church competency was restricted to the
spiritual issues exclusively starting from the 14,h century. |