Hundred Courts
place · 2 works · 3 mentions · 5 anchored passages
hundred court · hundred courts · hundreds · the Hundred Courts · wapentakes
spoken of as
1 expressionHundred Court1 mention
An Essay on the Trial by Jury (English)
“The hundred court was held before some bailiff;
in the texts
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John
The hundred (or wapentake) courts, local tribunals subdividing the shire, many of which were absorbed into feudal jurisdiction as franchises.
These smaller districts were known as hundreds in the south, and as wapentakes (a name of Danish derivation) in the north.
Further, as complete hundreds fell under control of powerful magnates, the courts of these hundreds were also transformed into feudal courts:
The old English institution of frithborh—the practice of binding together little groups of neighbours for preservation of the peace—and the custom of sending representatives of the villages to the Hundred Courts, had accustomed the natives to corporate action, and formed precedents for asking them to give evidence on local matters jointly and on oath.
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
A local court for a district anciently comprising about a hundred families, with suitors as judges.
“The hundred court was held before some bailiff;
“A Hundred Court is only a larger court-baron, being held for all the inhabitants of a particular hundred, instead of a manor.