Court baron

A Court baron is an English manorial court dating from the Middle Ages.

It was laid down by Sir Edward Coke that a manor had two courts, "the first by the common law, and is called a court baron," the freeholders ("barons") being its suitors; the other a customary court for the copyholders. William Stubbs adopted this explanation, but Maitland held that court baron means curia baronis, "la court de seigneur," and that there was no evidence for there being more than one court. The old view that at least two freeholders were required for its composition is also now discarded. Maitland's conclusion was that the "court baron" was not even differentiated from the "court leet" at the close of the 13th century, but that there was a distinction of jurisdictional rights, some courts having only feudal rights, while others, had regalities as well. When the court leet was differentiated, the court baron remained with feudal rights alone. These rights traced to a lord's jurisdiction over his men rather than to his possession of the manor, although in practice, from an early date, the court was associated with the manor.

Its chief business was to administer the "custom of the manor" and to admit fresh tenants who had acquired copyholds by inheritance or purchase, and had to pay, on so doing, a "fine" to the lord of the manor. It is mainly for the latter purpose that the court was kept. It was normally presided over by the steward of the lord of the manor, who is a lawyer, and its proceedings were recorded on the court rolls, of which older ones are now important for genealogical as well as for legal purposes.

Further reading

• Scriven, John, (Serjeant at law), A treatise on copyhold, customary freehold, and ancient demesne tenure: with the jurisdiction of Courts baron and Courts leet; also an appendix, containing rules for holding Customary courts, Courts baron and Courts leet, forms of court rolls, deputations, and copyhold assurances, and extracts from the relative acts of Parliament, 2 vols., 2nd. ed., London, 1823
• Andrew Barsby (1996) Manorial Law

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

See also

• court leet, a court baron that exercised the view of frankpledge and its attendant police jurisdiction
• Manor