The manorial courts were the lowest courts of law in England during the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

period. They had a civil jurisdiction limited both in subject matter and geography. They dealt with matters over which the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

had jurisdiction, primarily

torts A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishab ...

, local contracts and land tenure, and their powers only extended to those who lived within the lands of the manor: the

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

and such lands as the lord had enfeoffed to others, and to those who held land therein. Historians have divided manorial courts into those that were primarily seignorial – based on feudal responsibilities – and those based on separate delegation of authority from the monarch. There were three types of manorial court: the court of the honour; the court baron; and the court customary, also known as the halmote court. Each manor had its own laws promulgated in a document called the custumal, and anyone in breach of those laws could be tried in a manorial court. The earlier Anglo-Saxon method of

trial by ordeal Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. In medieval Europe, like trial by combat, t ...

or of compurgation was modified by the Normans into trial by a

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England d ...

made up of 12 local freemen. The lord or his steward would be the chairman, whilst the parish clerk would write the record on the

manorial roll A manorial roll or court roll is the roll or record kept of the activities of a manorial court, in particular containing entries relating to the rents and holdings, deaths, alienations, and successions of the customary tenants or copyholders."cou ...

Manorial courts

The three types of manorial court were distinguished by the importance of those who made use of them. The court of honour was for the manor's chief tenants, the court baron for other free tenants, and the court customary was for unfree tenants.

Court of the honour

The honour court, also known as the ''curia ducis'' ("duke's court") or ''curia militum'' ("soldiers' court"), was made up of the most important of a lord's tenants, particularly those who owed him knight service. Unlike the other two types of manorial court its jurisdiction could extend over a number of manors. Dealing as it did with the most important of the lord's tenants it was initially the principal manorial court, and may have acted as a superior court of appeal for the lower manorial courts, at least until 1267.

Court baron

The main business of the court baron was the resolution of disputes involving a lord's free tenants within a single manor, to enforce the feudal services owed to the lord of the manor by his tenants, and to admit new tenants who had acquired

copyhold Copyhold was a form of customary land ownership common from the Late Middle Ages into modern times in England. The name for this type of land tenure is derived from the act of giving a copy of the relevant title deed that is recorded in the ...

s by inheritance or purchase, for which they were obliged to pay a fine to the lord of the manor. The English jurist

Edward Coke Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

described the court in his ''The Compleate Copyholder'' (1644) as "the chief prope and pillar of a manor which no sooner faileth than the manor falleth to the ground". The court baron was constituted by the lord of the manor or his steward and a representative group of tenants known as the manorial homage, whose job was to make presentations to the court and act as a jury. The court baron was originally held every three weeks, although its sittings became increasingly infrequent during the 14th century, and by the 15th century it was often convened only twice a year. Those required to attend were summoned to appear, often by an announcement in church on Sunday or by a notice pinned to the church door. "Reasonable notice" had to be given, usually three days. Attendance at the court was a feudal duty, and those who failed to appear could be amerced, i.e. arbitrarily fined. After 1267 however, generally only a manor's unfree tenants could be compelled to attend. By the 13th century compilations of precedents such as ''Le Court de Baron'' had begun to appear, partly to standardise and formalise the proceedings of the courts baron, but also in response to increasing competition from the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

courts, which were administered nationwide under the authority of the monarch. As it became increasingly acknowledged by the legal establishment during the 15th and 16th centuries that custom had "a secure place in law", plaintiffs were able to resort to the common law courts to resolve their differences over tenure rather than the court baron.

Court customary

The court customary, or halmote court, was the equivalent of the court baron for the lord's unfree tenants. As the use of the court baron declined, the court customary became the predominant type of manorial court, and gradually the court's distinction between free and unfree tenants disappeared.

Royal courts

In some cases the manorial court functioned as a ''de facto''

court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Ety ...

. The lord of the manor could be given a post by the central government, such as sheriff or officer in charge of the county, in return for a small payment. In these cases the manorial court's jurisdiction could in effect become county-wide. Alternatively, the lord could acquire a franchise of

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

to hold court for criminal matters. This jurisdiction was that of court leet and view of

frankpledge Frankpledge was a system of joint suretyship common in England throughout the Early Middle Ages and High Middle Ages. The essential characteristic was the compulsory sharing of responsibility among persons connected in tithings. This unit, unde ...

(the two terms define the same assembly), the manor freemen being the jury of a "crown" court within the manor's area.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manor Court Law of the United Kingdom Feudalism in the British Isles