‘Law is Said in Many Ways’: An Attempt at Conceptual Clarification of Canon Law in the Collectio canonum Hibernensis

Abstract The Collectio canonum Hibernensis is a collection originating in eighth-century Ireland of just under seventy books of what is generally called canon law. Some manuscripts include a theoretical reflection on the definition of law. Scholars have questioned to what extent early medieval canon law, and specifically this collection, conforms to law in a meaningful sense. Inspired by H. L. A. Hart’s concept of law, seminal in contemporary legal theory, this article argues laws can be understood only from a participant perspective or ‘internal point of view’. The way the words ius, lex , and canon are used throughout the collection points to the presence of this perspective. The article thus makes the case for treating the Hibernensis as canon law.