decretal

American  

[dih-kreet-l] / dɪˈkrit l /

adjective

1. pertaining to, of the nature of, or containing a decree or decrees.

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noun

1. a papal decree authoritatively determining some point of doctrine or church law.

2. Decretals, the body or collection of such decrees as a part of the canon law.

decretal British  

/ dɪˈkriːtəl /

noun

1. RC Church a papal edict on doctrine or church law

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adjective

1. of or relating to a decretal or a decree

Other Word Forms

• decretalist noun

Etymology

Origin of decretal

1350–1400; Middle English < Old French < Late Latin dēcrētālis fixed by decree, equivalent to dēcrēt ( um ) decree + -ālis -al ¹

Example Sentences

As Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern noted, “Because none of the three decisions garners a majority, Justices Higgitt and Rosado join the decretal of this decision for the sole purpose of ensuring finality, thereby affording the parties a path for appeal to the Court of Appeals,” the state’s highest court.

From Slate

From the assembly of prelates who attended, in 1184, the meeting at Verona between Lucius III. and Frederic Barbarossa, the pope issued a decretal at the instance of the emperor and with the assent of the bishops, which if strictly and energetically obeyed might have established an episcopal instead of a papal Inquisition.

From Project Gutenberg

Innocent III., in a decretal embodied in the canon law, had ordered advocates and scriveners to lend no aid or counsel to heretics and their defenders, or to undertake their causes in litigation.

From Project Gutenberg

Lucius III., in his Verona decretal of 1184, sought to obtain for the Church the benefit of the confiscation which he again declared to be incurred by heresy.

From Project Gutenberg

This decretal, which was adopted into the canon law, is important as embodying the whole theory of the subject.

From Project Gutenberg