Catalan Courts

General Court of the Principality of Catalonia Cort General del Principat de Catalunya (Catalan)
Royal arms of the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona (sovereign of Catalonia)
Type
Type	Braços or Estates of the realm: Braç eclesiàstic Braç militar Braç reial
History
Established	1192 1283 (first regulated)
Disbanded	1714
Preceded by	Cort Comtal, Peace and Truce Assemblies
Succeeded by	Courts of Castile
Leadership
King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona	List of Aragonese monarchs
Seats	Síndics (Braç Reial), Nobles (Braç Militar), Clerics (Braç Eclesiàstic)
Meeting place
Itinerant, different places of Catalonia. The Palau de la Generalitat was the place where the last Courts (1705-1706) were met
Footnotes
See also: Parliament of Catalonia

The Catalan Courts or General Court of Catalonia (Corts Catalanes or Cort General de Catalunya (Catalan); ) was the policymaking and parliamentary body of the Principality of Catalonia from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century. The courts were made up of three arms or estates: the military estate which included representatives from the nobility, the ecclesiastical estate which saw representatives from the religious hierarchy and the royal estate which had representatives from the municipalities. The courts were summoned by the king who opened with a royal proclamation while the arms were in charge of legislating, always with the support of the sovereign. If the laws that were approved came from the king they received the name of "Constitutions", if they came from the Estates, "Court Chapters". If the king passed a law unilaterally it was called "Acts of Courts" and required ratification by the courts.

It is comparable to similar institutions across Europe, such as the Parliament of England and the Diets (German: Landtage) of the German "lands".

The General Courts of the Crown of Aragon were held jointly and simultaneously with the Courts of Aragon, Valencian Courts and the Courts of Catalonia. The Kingdom of Majorca did not convene Courts and thus sent their representatives to the Courts of the Principality. As the courts could not be held outside of Aragon nor the Principality, they were frequently held in Monzón or in Fraga, Aragonese towns which lay equidistant between Zaragoza and Barcelona.