Stylus Romanae curiae in Historical and Positive Canon Law

Stylus Romanae Curiae, as an important element influencing, guiding and supplementing the application of the rules of canon law in practice, originally developed from the collections of forms and rules of the Apostolic Office. The popes initially wished that the central administrative and judicial bodies, designed in a centralist manner and established by them, not only exercised control over the application of universal rules, but also supplemented them and acted as a guide to jurisprudence. Thus, the Stylus Romanae Curiae began to influence not only the further development of canon-law science, but also legal practice in a significant manner, which occurred mainly when filling gaps in the law, but also when interpreting and deciding recurring types of cases in terms of administrative instructions or judicial precedents. However, recognition of the value of the source of law by several canonists made it an undesirable element over time, which the papacy managed to eliminate only at the beginning of the 20th century. The main goal of the study is to point out the conceptual definition and practical functioning of the Stylus Romanae Curiae in history and the gradual weakening of its position in the codified law of the Catholic Church, which culminated in the positive law.