From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Related words and phrases.
Décrétales are papal letters or decisions belonging to ecclesiastical law; droit canon is canon law. Longuemare accumulates these authorities for a defence that identifies his case with the Church’s. The intended abundance of illumination contrasts with his physically illegible writing and the revolutionary court’s different terms of authority. The objects of his quotation are theological-legal sources, not decrees of the Convention.
Places to read
- Chapter XIX, paragraph 10Frenchdes articles nombreux de droit canon et des paragraphes entiers des décrétales: articles of canon law and whole paragraphs of decretals. Longuemare compiles the authorities he hopes will confound his judges.