It has been argued and unsettled whether any English Churchman in the 13th century would have disputed that the Pope was the head of the Universal Church. It was admitted that the canon law of the great councils was binding upon all members of the Church. Bracton, being both a lawyer and a cleric wrote of the Pope "in spiritualibus super omnibus habet ordinariam jurisdictionem" (In spiritual things he has an ordinary jurisdiction over all men in his realm.) Not only was the Pope a law giver, but he was also a judge, and in his Curia, could enforce his decrees. Papal legislation was defined and circumscribed by "ius divinium et naturale" – law divine and natural.Kirkalfy (1962), p. 212.
