A prerogative court is a court through which the discretionary powers, privileges, and legal immunities reserved to the

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

were exercised. In England in the 17th century, a clash developed between these courts, representing the crown's authority, and common law courts. Prerogative courts included the Court of the Exchequer, the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

, and the Court of the Star Chamber. Their procedures were flexible and not limited by common law procedures. The Star Chamber became a tool of Charles I employed against his enemies, and was abolished ( Habeas Corpus Act 1640) by

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. A parallel system of common law courts was grounded in

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

and

property rights The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership), is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their Possession (law), possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely ...

; the main common law courts were the Court of the King's Bench and the Court of Common Pleas.

Canterbury and York

The term also applied to one of the English provincial courts of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

and

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

having

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

over the estates of deceased persons. They had jurisdiction to grant

probate In common law jurisdictions, probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased; or whereby, in the absence of a legal will, the e ...

or administration where the diocesan courts could not entertain the case owing to the deceased having died possessed of goods above a set value in each of two or more dioceses. The Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) was a church court under the authority of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, which was responsible for the probate of wills and trials of testamentary causes where the value of the goods involved was greater than five pounds, and the property was held in two (or more) dioceses within Great Britain. While wills might also be proven at York, Canterbury's jurisdiction covered Southern England (including London) and Wales. Its archive also contains large numbers of wills relating to individuals who died abroad, but who owned property in Britain. In the period between 1680 and 1820, the Court proved on average 3,700 wills a year, including large numbers of Irish and colonial wills, and those of soldiers and sailors who died while in service. The jurisdiction of the prerogative courts was transferred to the

Court of Probate In the history of the courts of England and Wales, the Court of Probate was created by the Court of Probate Act 1857, which transferred the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts in testamentary matters to the new court so created. The Jud ...

in 1857 by the

Court of Probate Act 1857 The Court of Probate Act 1857 ( 20 & 21 Vict. c. 77) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that transferred responsibility for the granting of probate, and letters of administration, from the ecclesiastical courts of England and W ...

, and is now vested in the Family Division of the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

by the Judicature Act.

Dublin

The same term was used to describe the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Armagh, latterly established at Henrietta Street, in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, which proved the wills of testators dying with assets of value greater than £5 ("'' bona notabilia''") in at least two Irish dioceses. In practice, the business of the Court was conducted by an experienced

civil lawyer Civil law is a legal system rooted in the Roman Empire and was comprehensively codified and disseminated starting in the 19th century, most notably with France's Napoleonic Code (1804) and Germany's (1900). Unlike common law systems, which rel ...

: the first recorded judge, appointed in 1575, was Sir Ambrose Forth (died 1610), who was also the first judge of the Irish Court of Admiralty. This court was also abolished by the

.Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536— 1810. Edited by Sir Arthur Vicars, F.S.A., Ulster King of Arms, Edward Ponsonby, Dublin, 1897

French equivalents

In France, more commonly known as '' cour souveraine'' (literally " Sovereign court") or ''cour supérieure'' from 1661, referred to any prerogative courts of last resort in monarchical

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Among them included the King's Council, the Court of Accounts, the Cour des aides, the Cour des monnaies, and Paris and provincial

Parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

Bibliography

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References

*{{EB1911, wstitle=Prerogative Courts Former courts and tribunals in England and Wales Courts by type