fehmic court

fehmic court, medieval law tribunal properly belonging to Westphalia, though extending jurisdiction throughout the German kingdom.

After 1180, when ducal rights in Westphalia passed to the archbishop of Cologne, Westphalian jurisdiction still retained Carolingian features: in every county, or Grafschaft, the count’s agent would hear minor cases; and thrice yearly the count himself would hold assizes, the tribunals being composed of free men. In the 13th century, Freigrafen, or permanent representatives of the counts, multiplied so much that eventually it was necessary to limit them, each county containing only about two or three Freistuhlen, or seats of justice. Westphalian judicial prestige increased, stemming, after about 1300, from direct imperial delegation, rather than coming via the count, to whom concession of royal authority became less frequent. Now many cases from all over Germany were transferred to fehmic courts. Sessions were of two types: the offenes Ding, or open assembly, to which all free men were admitted, judging property offenses and ordinary misdemeanours; and the Stillding, or secret assembly, attended only by the judge, the Schöffen (aldermen), and parties to the case. The Stillding had entirely superseded the offenes Ding by 1500. After 1422 royal authority in Westphalia was supposedly delegated to the archbishop of Cologne, but the fehmic courts maintained their character of royal institutions. Nevertheless, their secrecy, their severity, and the conflict that their jurisdiction aroused with territorial princes harmed them; and by the end of the 15th century only a few in Westphalia remained. Some, however, lingered on until Napoleonic times.