Customary law in the Corpus iuris canonici

This study discusses custom as a source of law tracing its basis in Roman law and its development in both the Eastern and Western Church. It emphasizes its stabilizing influence, evident in the work of Isidore of Seville, Yves of Chartres, and Gratian. The later history illustrates the shift from the "reasonable custom" to the "will of the competent superior." This work attempts to show the need of the Church to recover Custom in order to promote missionary activity and ecumenical discourse within the contest of pluralism.