ABSTRACT
The emergence of the Roman Church as the jurisdictional apex of the Latin Church remains highly controversial. One of the most legally interesting lawsuits in which he was involved as cardinal was the case between the bishops of Siena and Arezzo about jurisdiction over 18 parish churches. The third touched on a potentially disturbing question relating to baptism raised by Bishop Oberto II of Cremona. The circumstances of the case have been lost, but it involved doubts about whether a priest who had not been baptised should be given Christian burial. Professor Robinson saw the Pisan letters as part of a determined campaign to increase the judicial business of the Apostolic See, but they were neither picked up by canonical collectors nor cited by commentators. Innocent II's pontificate coincided with a particularly creative phase in the transformation of canon law and theology under the double impact of the renewed study and use of Justinianic Roman law.
