The development of Church law between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries was fundamental to the growth of the Western legal tradition. Despite its long reach - across Europe, well into modern times, and into such secular subjects as theft, wills, and the sale of goods - classical canon law has been the subject of far too few general studies in English.

Illuminating the basic nature of the canon, this work explores the roles of moral, social, political, and religious values in the laws' development through the seventeenth century. At the same time, R. H. Helmholz makes relevant the attitudes and formal techniques of the laws' authors, practitioners, and interpreters.

The size and complexity of the body of Church law and its jurisprudence have kept historians in fields as diverse as law, society, theology, and political thought from appreciating how this topic might enrich their studies. The Spirit of Classical Canon Law provides the ideal entree.