One of the strongest supports of the clergy was the system of ecclesiastical courts. From apostolic times it was an accepted principle that Christians should settle their differences in their own circles rather than resort to the secular courts. As the Church became a social institution with its own interests and property, it was to its advantage to develop its own system of courts, and the civil law of the Roman Empire recognized the right of the Christian Church to do so. In the Middle Ages, the legal principles of the Church were superior to those of the State, and offenders preferred to be tried in church courts rather than in civil courts. The bishop’s court was the court of principal jurisdiction in the diocese, and all the church courts had their appeal to the papal court in Rome. The elaboration of the ecclesiastical system made necessary a body of canon law. The Didache of the second century and the Didascalia of the third were tentative attempts to provide regulations for the churches. Out of them was collected the Apostolic Constitutions in the fourth century, which contained in eight books a large number of specific liturgical, ethical, and doctrinal precepts.
Impact: In the fifth century an unknown editor compiled the Apostolic Canons. In 692 the Second Trullan Council rejected the Constitutions but recognized the Canons, and thereafter they constituted a part of the collection of canon law.