Breakin' the Law

Crimes against God

This is the whole gamut covered by canon law. It could be as petty as lying or blasphemy. It could be as serious as sorcery or heresy.

The Church had its own courts, its own lawyers, its own legal tradition, and a massive amount of rules and regulations, many of which were administrative. Since the 12th century canon lawyers had been hard at work codifying and rationalizing the tangle of canon law as it had crown up in the various corners of Europe, and that work continued through our period. The Great Schism greatly propelled this trend, as the competing popes sought legal precedents for their rival claims not merely to be pope but to make an appointment, claim an income, judge a case.