Law in the Middle Ages consisted of many important courts and jurisdictions. The judicial system offered three types of courts to solve many different problems. The first type of court was the church court. The Church court or Ecclesiastical court is “a tribunal set up by religious authorities to deal with disputes among clerics or with spiritual matters involving either clerics or laymen” (“Ecclesiastical Court”). The church court was considered the most powerful with a big jurisdiction. “Church Courts had jurisdiction over all disputes concerning discipline or administration of the church, property claimed by the clergy or ecclesiastical corporate bodies, tithes and benefices, questions touching on oaths and vows, and heresy” (“Ecclesiastical
…show more content…
A monarch demonstrated his power with different things like collecting taxes, making of laws and settling disputes which can lead to horrible punishments. For example, Henry II settled land holding with special court holdings. The Royal court handled a variety of different cases, but mostly the serious ones. These courts were preferred for royal cases like burglary, treason, rape, poaching animals from royal forests, murder and other charges that were considered to be serious. An example of a royal court in the Middle Age is The Court of the Verge. Professor Knox views this court as an example of a Royal court that shows aspects of Medieval justice and courts jurisdictions. He describes this court as “a court that only existed when The King of England was traveling within the realm” (Knox). The king developed a royal court whose jurisdictions expanded for twelve miles in every direction. He did this so his kingdom would not be conflict with the local courts. The setup of the court was run by a steward, which was a person that was appointed to look over arrangements and keep order, also a marshal. A marshal was a high ranked officer of the cavalry. The cases varied, but generally had to do with petty crimes. Sometimes it was more serious
A monarch demonstrated his power with different things like collecting taxes, making of laws and settling disputes which can lead to horrible punishments. For example, Henry II settled land holding with special court holdings. The Royal court handled a variety of different cases, but mostly the serious ones. These courts were preferred for royal cases like burglary, treason, rape, poaching animals from royal forests, murder and other charges that were considered to be serious. An example of a royal court in the Middle Age is The Court of the Verge. Professor Knox views this court as an example of a Royal court that shows aspects of Medieval justice and courts jurisdictions. He describes this court as “a court that only existed when The King of England was traveling within the realm” (Knox). The king developed a royal court whose jurisdictions expanded for twelve miles in every direction. He did this so his kingdom would not be conflict with the local courts. The setup of the court was run by a steward, which was a person that was appointed to look over arrangements and keep order, also a marshal. A marshal was a high ranked officer of the cavalry. The cases varied, but generally had to do with petty crimes. Sometimes it was more serious