ARCHES

ARCHES, or Court of Arches, is one of the Archbishop’s courts; to which appeals lie in ecclesiastical matters from all parts of the Province of Canterbury. SeeCourt, Appeal, and Archbishop.

This court is thus called, from the arched church andtower of St. Mary le Bow, where it was wont to beheld. The Judge of the Court of the Arches, is called the Dean of the Arches, or the Official of the Arches Court, &c., with which Officialty, is commonly joined a peculiar Jurisdiction over thirteen parishes in London, termed aDeanery, exempt from the Authority of the Bishop of London, and belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; of which the Parish of Bow is one, and the principal.



Others suppose the denomination and functions of Deanof the Arches to have arisen hence, that the Archbishop’s Official or Dean being often employed abroad in foreign embassies, the Dean of the Arches was his substitute in thiscourt. This Judge, on any appeal made, forthwith, and withoutany further examination of the cause, sends out his citation to the Appellee, and his inhibition to the judge fromwhom the appeal was made.

The Advocates who are allowed to plead in the ArchesCourt, are to be Doctors of the Civil Law, in one of ourUniversities. See ADVOCATE.

ARCHES