Court of Chivalry

Court of Chivalry

A judicial body dealing with military disputes and questions of the law of arms. In most countries courts-martial regulating the conduct of persons involved in war came first. They were presided over by monarchs or great officers of state such as earls marshal. In time heralds became the principal officers of and practitioners before these courts and the law of arms became more and more concerned with rights to armorial bearings. In England the Court of Chivalry or Court Military, also known as the Court of the Constable and Marshal, was held before the Lord High Constable and the Earl Marshal of England. It had jurisdiction, civil and criminal, in deeds of arms and war, armorial bearings, matters of precedence, and, held before the Earl Marshal alone, as a court of honour. Long in abeyance it was revived in 1955. In Scotland the court of chivalry is the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms which has both civil and criminal jurisdiction. In many other countries, such as Switzerland and Spain, there are heraldic officers and a heraldic judicial function and even in republican France the civil courts protect arms legally recorded under the monarchy.

Source: The Oxford Companion to Law, 1980, p. 304.


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