3,5^> Cmistitulwnal Historij. [chap.
immunities are in theory, but in theory only, a safeguard of
society, their uniform, tendency is to keep alive the class
jealousies ; they are among the remedies which perpetuate the
evils which they imperfectly counteract. In quiet times such
immunities are unnecessary; in unquiet times they are dis-
regarded.
Ecciesiasti- 400. Of the temporal causes which were subject to the cogni-
cal Jimsdic- . .x.1 ι ι ∙ ∣* .
tιon in sance of the ecclesiastical courts the chief were matrimonial and.
Jiiatteis . , _ /» 1 ∙ ∙ ι
temporal, testamentary suits, and actions for the recovery of ecclesiastical
maj,and payments, tithes ana customary fees. Ihe whole jurisdiction in
aιy. questions of marriage was, owing to the sacramental character
ascribed to the ordinance of matrimony, throughout Christen-
dom a spiritual jurisdiction. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction in
testamentary matters and the administration of the goods of
persons dying intestate was peculiar to England and the sister
kingdoms, and had its origin, it would appear, in times soon
Growth of after the Conquest. In Anglo-Saxon times there seems to have
Hientary been no distinct recognition of the ecclesiastical character of
these causes, and even if there had been they would have been
tried in the shire moot. Probate of wills is also in many
cases a privilege of manorial courts, which have nothing eccle-
siastical in their composition, and represent the more ancient
moots in which no doubt the wills of the Anglo-Saxons were
published. As however the testamentary jurisdiction was
regarded by Grlanvill1 as an undisputed right of the church
courts, the date of its commencement cannot be put later than
the reign of Henry I, and it may possibly be as old as the
Subtraction separation of lay and spiritual courts. The ‘subtraction of
tithe ’ and refusal to pay ecclesiastical fees and perquisites were
likewise punished by spiritual censures which the secular power
undertook to enforce.
Certificate As all these departments closely bordered upon the domain
of the eccle- -,
Siasticai of the temporal courts, some concert between the two was
cessafy for indispensable ; and there were many points on which the
justice.'11 certificate of the spiritual court was the only evidence on
1 Glanvill, lib. vii. c. 8 ; Blackstone, Comm. iii. 96 s<p ; Prynne, Becords,
iɪi. 140; Gibson, Codex, pp. jɔɪ sq.
Xix.] Ecclesiastical Jwlicahire. UJ
which the temporal court could act : in questions of legitimacy,
regularity of marriage, the full possession of holy orders and
the fact of institution to livings, the assistance of the spiritual
court enabled the temporal courts to complete their proceedings
in suits touching the title to property, dower and patronage 1 ;
and the more ambitious prelates of the thirteenth century
claimed the last two departments for the spiritual courts2. In
this however they did not obtain any support from Rome, and
at home the claim was disregarded. Besides these chief points, Minor
there were other minor suits for wrongs for which the tern- coπrta
poral courts afforded no remedy, such as slander in cases where
the evil report did not cause material loss to the person
slandered : these belonged to the spiritual courts and were
punished by spiritual penalties3.
401. Besides the jurisdiction in these matters of temporal ^3c'tl,0rθβ
concern, there was a large field of work for the church courts animae.’
in disciplinary cases ; the cognisance of immorality of different
kinds, the correction of which had as its avowed purpose the
benefit of the soul of the delinquent. In these trials the courts
had their own methods of process derived in great measure
from the Roman law, with a whole apparatus of citations,
libels, and witnesses ; the process of purgation, penance, and, in
default of proper satisfaction, excommunication and its resulting
penalties enforced by the temporal law. The sentence of ex- Processon
.. _ . ,, excommuni-
Communicatioii was the ultimate resource of the spiritual cation,
courts. If the delinquent held out for forty days after the
denunciation of this sentence, the king’s court, by writ of
Significavit4 or some similar injunction, ordered the sheriff to
imprison him until he satisfied the claims of the church.
These proceedings furnished employment for a great ma-
1 Blackstone, Comm. iii. 335 sq. i See Johnson, Canons, ii. 331.
3 BlackstonejComm. iii. 123, 124. In 1237 the clergy complain that
such suits are withdrawn from them ; ‘ ne quis tractet causam in foro
ecclesiae sive de perjurio, sive de fide laesa, de usura vel simonia vel
defamatione, nisi tantum super testamento vel matrimonio.* Ann. Burton
p. 256. Notwithstanding the 15th constitution of Clarendon, cases of debt
as cases ‘laesionis fidei,,were long tried in court Christian; the Acts of
the Ripon Chapterfor 1452-1506 contain 118 such cases.
4 Blackstone, Comm. iii. 102 ; see below, pp. 365, 36p.