Römisches und kanonisches Recht kurz und bündig. Zur Epitomierung lateinischer Rechtstexte zwischen Spätantike und Moderne

The subject of this survey is the manifold uses of the technique of epitomizing, which was and remained important in methodological, literary and normative-functional terms in the texts of Roman and canon law from Antiquity to the modern era. After some general reflections on epitomes and epitomization (I.), the article’s second section focuses on Roman law, especially of late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages (II.). The following sections concern the law of the Catholic Church in the second millennium, which is being examined in several steps. After some observations on the classical canon law of the High and Late Middle Ages (III.), two sections deal with the practical contexts and reasons for the interest in epitomizing works. After exploring the question of the intended readership of epitomes (IV.), the discussion moves on to the selection of contents as well as spatial contexts of reception (V.). The last two sections of the article then deal with the role of epitomizing in the canonistic literature of the modern era, first in canonistic literature in general (VI.) and then in the special genre of »graphic epitomes« in the form of diagrams (tabulae) (VII.).