Rufinus was an Italian canon lawyer, described as the most influential canonist at the University of Bologna in the mid 12th century.Hartmann and Pennington, pp. 135–136. He composed a Summa on Gratian's Decretum before 1159,Rufinus, Die “Summa Decretorum” des Magister Rufinus, ed. H. Singer, Paderborn 1902, p. LXVII, n. 9 which soon became the most influential commentary in Bologna, surpassing all previous ones in detail and length.Law in the West After Gratian: The Age of the Decretists A Short History of Canon Law from Apostolic Times to 1917, Kenneth Pennington, The Catholic University of America. Accessed 21 April 2019.
Stephen of Tournai, his pupil, quoted from his Summa several times.J. F. von Schulte, Die Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des Canonischen Rechts von Gratian bis auf die Gegenwart, 3 vols, Stuttgart 1875-1880, I, p. 123 and n. 6, and p. 134.
References
Bibliography Wilfried Hartmann and Kenneth Pennington, The history of medieval canon law in the classical period, 1140-1234, Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2008.
External links Rufinus. Summa Decretorum. Edited by Heinrich Singer. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schoningh, 1902. Reprint Aalen: Scientia, 1963.