ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some differences between the sections of the Libri duo and the Decretum books into which some of the rules were reworked and incorporated. It summarizes the substantive law of the four Decretum books in order to see that Burchard eliminated the conflicts he found in the Libri duo and created a consistent body of law structured around general concepts. The most striking difference between the Libri duo and the Decretum is that Regino included conflicting rules and Burchard did not. Regino was willing to have dissonant canons in the Libri duo because he wrote at a different time and for a better-educated and different audience. The Libri duo focuses somewhat more on giving procedural rules and on providing canons stating a variety of punishments. The Decretum's canons interpret the Bible to require that homicide should be punished with penance, rather than exile or another punishment cited in the Bible.
