Fides integra, sana, non vaccilans. Mancio de Corpus Christi († 1576) on the (in)compatibility of doubt and good faith

Abstract

In his lecture notes, the Salamanca scholar Mancio de Corpus Christi († 1576) dealt extensively with the moral-theological question of whether a possessor in doubt as to his entitlement of a possession, lacks the necessary good faith for acquisitive prescription. Mancio discusses, evaluates and compares existing opinions of moral theologians of his time on the matter and expounds on his own teaching. The dialectical discourse reveals that opting for a more or less minimalistic concept of morality is one of the decisive factors.