High Court of Chivalry

Her Majesty's High Court of Chivalry
Country	United Kingdom
Composition method	Appointed by Earl Marshal.
Decisions are appealed to	Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Judge term length	One hereditary, otherwise depends on the appointment
Earl Marshal
Currently	Duke of Norfolk
Since	1672 (current office granted by Letters Patent)

Her Majesty's High Court of Chivalry is a civil court in all matters under English and Welsh law relating to the jurisdiction of heraldry. The court has been in existence since the fourteenth century; however, it rarely sits. The sole judge is now the hereditary Earl Marshal of England, the Duke of Norfolk, though if not a professional lawyer, he normally appoints a professional lawyer as his Lieutenant or .

In Scotland, these types of cases are heard in the Court of the Lord Lyon, which is a standing civil and criminal court, with its own judge - the Lord Lyon King of Arms and its own procurator fiscal (public prosecutor) under the Scottish legal system.

The court was historically known as the Curia Militaris, the Court of the Constable and the Marshal, or the Earl Marshal's Court.

Since it was created in the fourteenth century the court has always sat when required, except for the short time between 1634 and its temporary abolition by the Long Parliament in 1640 when it sat on a regular basis. During this time the court heard well over a thousand cases, of which evidence survives from 738.

The court was last convened in 1954 for the case of Manchester Corporation v Manchester Palace of Varieties Ltd; prior to this, the Court had not sat for two centuries and before hearing the case, the Court first had to rule whether it still existed. The proceedings opened with the reading of various letters patents in order to made clear that the Duke of Norfolk was indeed Hereditary Earl Marshal and that he had appointed Lord Goddard as his Lieutenant in the Court. It also had ruled that the Earl Marshal was allowed to sit in judgement without the Lord High Constable of England, an office which until 1521 was also held as a hereditary dignity by the Dukes of Buckingham. The case itself was that the Palace theatre had been displaying the arms of the Manchester Corporation (now Manchester City Council) both inside and on its seal and this usage implied that it was linked with the city's council. The Corporation had requested that the theatre stop using it, but this request had been refused. The court ruled in favour of the Corporation.

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Wikipedia