Abstract

Despite epistemological and ideological obstacles, the reasons of which are briefly recalled in this article, the relationship between law and religion in the medieval West has been extensively explored, notably through studies devoted to canon law, ecclesiastical procedures and legal qualifications. Yet the boundaries, contact zones and connections between these two “regimes of normativity” and “veridiction” have been left in the dark. This paper does not claim to encompass all the aspects of such a titanic investigation. Instead, it intends to point out some of the problems that arise as soon as one approaches (as a historian) the relations that the Catholic Church – that established the Christian religion – has maintained with the law, and to indicate the paths currently explored in this direction.