Legal Definitions - extracta curiae

Extracta Curiae is a historical legal term that refers to the various forms of income or profits generated by a court during medieval and early modern periods. This revenue typically arose from customary payments, fees charged for court services, and financial penalties or fines imposed by the court.

Here are some examples illustrating how extracta curiae would have applied:

• Manorial Court Proceedings: Imagine a local lord's court in medieval England, which handled minor disputes and administrative matters within his estate. If a peasant wished to transfer a plot of land to an heir, the court would charge a small fee to officially record the transaction in its rolls. Similarly, if a villager was found guilty of a minor offense, such as allowing their livestock to stray onto a neighbor's property, the court would impose a fine. These fees for land transfers and the fines for minor infractions would collectively contribute to the court's extracta curiae, representing the income it generated from its judicial and administrative functions.

• Royal Justice System: Consider a royal assize court traveling through a county to administer justice on behalf of the monarch. A wealthy merchant might initiate a lawsuit to recover a debt, paying a specific fee to the court clerk to file the necessary documents and begin the proceedings. If a defendant failed to appear in court as summoned, the judge could impose a financial penalty for their non-compliance. Furthermore, the issuance of official writs or legal orders by the court would often incur a charge to the party requesting them. All these payments—filing fees, penalties for non-appearance, and charges for official documents—would constitute the extracta curiae for that session of the royal court.