Legal Definitions - quale jus

Quale jus was a historical legal order, or writ, used in medieval England. It directed a royal official, known as an escheator, to investigate whether a religious institution or person genuinely had the right to a court judgment involving land. The primary purpose was to ensure that the judgment was not a secret, deceptive agreement designed to help the religious entity acquire land and bypass the "mortmain statutes." These statutes were laws enacted to prevent land from being permanently held by religious bodies, as this removed the land from feudal obligations and royal taxation.

• Example 1: Imagine a medieval monastery, St. Benedict's Abbey, coveted a fertile plot of farmland adjacent to its existing property. To circumvent the mortmain statutes, which restricted how much land religious institutions could acquire, the Abbey secretly arranged with a sympathetic local landowner. The landowner initiated a seemingly legitimate lawsuit against the Abbey, falsely claiming ownership of the farmland. The Abbey, in turn, "defended" the suit weakly, leading to a court judgment that formally awarded the farmland to St. Benedict's Abbey. Before this judgment could be fully executed and the land formally transferred, a quale jus writ would be issued. This writ would order the escheator to investigate if the Abbey's "right" to this judgment was genuine or if it was a collusive scheme to bypass the mortmain laws.

• Example 2: Consider a wealthy merchant, deeply devout, who wished to donate a substantial estate to a newly established church. Direct donation of the land to the church might have been challenged under mortmain statutes. To avoid this, the merchant and the church leaders conspired. The church filed a lawsuit against the merchant, claiming a historical debt or a breach of an ancient agreement, even though no such debt or breach existed. The merchant then "lost" the case through a pre-arranged settlement, and the court issued a judgment awarding the estate to the church as compensation. A quale jus writ would compel a royal official to investigate the legitimacy of this judgment, specifically to determine if the church's claim was fabricated to avoid the mortmain restrictions on land acquisition.