iface VIII, about the year 1298, which is called _sextus
decretalium_. The Clementine constitutions, or decrees of Clement V,
were in like manner authenticated in 1317 by his successor John XXII;
who also published twenty constitutions of his own, called the
_extravagantes Joannis_: all which in some measure answer to the
novels of the civil law. To these have been since added some decrees
of later popes in five books, called _extravagantes communes_. And all
these together, Gratian's decree, Gregory's decretals, the sixth
decretal, the Clementine constitutions, and the extravagants of John
and his successors, form the _corpus juris canonici_, or body of the
Roman canon law.

BESIDES these pontificial collections, which during the times of
popery were received as authentic in this island, as well as in other
parts of christendom, there is also a kind of national canon law,
composed of _legatine_ and _provincial_ constitutions, and adapted
only to the exigencies of this church and kingdom. The _legatine_
constitutions were ecclesiastical laws, enacted in national synods,
held under the cardinals Otho and Othobon, legates from pope Gregory
IX and pope Adrian IV, in the reign of king Henry III about the years
1220 and 1268. The _provincial_ constitutions are principally the
decrees of provincial synods, held under divers arch-bishops of
Canterbury, from Stephen Langton in the reign of Henry III to Henry
Chichele in the reign of Henry V; and adopted also by the province of
York[x] in the reign of Henry VI. At the dawn of the reformation, in
the reign of king Henry VIII, it was enacted in parliament[y] that a
review should be had of the canon law; and, till such review should be
made, all canons, constitutions, ordinances, and synodals provincial,
being then already made, and not repugnant to the law of the land or
the king's prerogative, should still be used and executed. And, as no
such review has yet been perfected, upon this statute now depends the
authority of the canon law in England.

[Footnote x: Burn's eccl. law, pref. viii.]

[Footnote y: Statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19; revived and confirmed by 1
Eliz. c. 1.]

AS for the canons enacted by the clergy under James I, in the year
1603, and never confirmed in parliament, it has been solemnly adjudged
upon the principles of law and the constitution, that where they are
not merely declaratory of the antient canon law, but are introductory
of new regulations, they do not