The Immunity of the Cinque Ports: Territorial or Personal Law?

The article analyses the applicable scope of the right of the Cinque Ports, the Confederation of the ports of southeast England. This right is based on a number of privileges granted to the Confederation and was also recorded in the custumals of its towns-members. Moreover, there was a procedural practice of appeal to this right, and the legal cases were transferred to a special judicial institution — the court of Shepway. However, with time some changes occurred, as the towns-members developed their own courts and increasingly preferred to settle their matters there. In addition, new institutions appeared within the Confederation, such as the general meeting at Brodhall, the court at the Dover castle, and others. An essential role in maintaining and asserting the Cinque Ports’ rights and functioning if its joint administration belonged to the warden of the Cinque Ports, the chief official of the Confederation. At the same time, the right of the Cinque Ports coexisted with other legal systems — royal and seigneurial — on the same territory. The article also raises the question of the legal status of the inhabitants of the towns-members of the Confederation and the right they applied in their daily life.

Keywords

Confederation of the Cinque Ports, medieval law, medieval immunity, medieval England, medieval town

Received

15.06.2021

Publication date

18.10.2021

Number of characters

54191

Cite

GOST	Anisimova A. The Immunity of the Cinque Ports: Territorial or Personal Law? // ISTORIYA – 2021. – V. 12. – Issue 9 (107) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840017156-0-1 (circulation date: 30.06.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840017156-0
MLA	Anisimova, Anna "The Immunity of the Cinque Ports: Territorial or Personal Law?." ISTORIYA 12.9 (107) (2021) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840017156-0
APA	Anisimova A. (2021). The Immunity of the Cinque Ports: Territorial or Personal Law?. ISTORIYA 12(9 (107)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840017156-0

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