stock here: what did words mean back in the day?
📜 Modern Translation of the Original Text
Jurisdiction is the power or authority a person has to administer justice in cases of complaints brought before them.
There are two main kinds of jurisdiction:
Ecclesiastical (church-related)
Secular (civil/government-related)
Secular Jurisdiction
This belongs to the king and his appointed officials or delegates.
The courts and judges at Westminster have authority throughout England and are not limited to any specific county or region.
However, all other courts are limited to their specific areas of authority. If they exceed this, their actions are considered invalid.
There are three types of inferior jurisdictions:
Tenere placita (to hold pleas): where plaintiffs may choose to sue either in these courts or in the king’s main courts.
Franchise jurisdiction: where a lord has been granted the right to hold court within his domain and is the only person who can exercise that right.
Exempt jurisdiction: where the king has granted a city or community the right to be sued only within its own local courts, not elsewhere.
No other court can override this jurisdiction unless the case is certified to a superior court.
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction
This belongs to bishops and their deputies.
They have two kinds of jurisdiction:
Internal: governing matters of personal conscience and spiritual issues — presumed to come directly from God.
Contentious: dealing with disputes between clergy and laypeople — a right that princes (kings) have given the Church in specific circumstances.
🧠 Interpretation and Significance
This definition shows how jurisdiction in the 18th century was understood as both a legal and spiritual authority to administer justice — depending on whether the issue was civil or religious.
Key takeaways:
The concept of “jurisdiction” was already deeply hierarchical, divided between royal, noble, municipal, and ecclesiastical bodies.
Secular jurisdiction was ultimately centralized under the king but allowed limited local autonomy, especially when rights were granted by charter or tradition.
Ecclesiastical jurisdiction was not just spiritual but had real legal standing — showing the intertwining of Church and State in pre-modern England.
The reference to “certiorari” (a writ to transfer a case to a higher court) hints at the early form of legal appeals still used today.