Ecclesiastical court, or church court, is a court set up to judge cases in religious or spiritual matters. Through the years, the extent of the powers of ecclesiastical courts has depended upon the influence of a specific religious body in a given society.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the period in European history from about the 400’s through the 1400’s, the ecclesiastical court system was more developed than the civil courts of the individual states. European states were confessional—that is, each state had a specific religious body as its official church. Ecclesiastical courts dealt with such matters as marriage law, wills, and legal issues in which clergy were involved. These courts followed a system of canon laws, or church laws.
With the rise of powerful nations in Europe, the authority of ecclesiastical courts began to decline. Since the late 1700’s, European nations have become secular (nonreligious) states. Most of them have no official national church. This separation of church and state has limited the authority of ecclesiastical courts to internal matters within a specific religious body. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, governs its internal operations according to the Code of Canon Law, which was issued in 1917 and underwent a major revision in 1983. The Church of England also has a well-developed system of ecclesiastical courts.
