They decided inheritance and will issues which did not concern land, but only personal property. This developed from the practice of a priest usually hearing a dying person's will as to the disposition of his goods and chattel when he made his last confession. So the church court came to determine the validity of wills, interpret them, regulate their created testamentary executors, and determine the legatees. It also came to determine intestate matters. It provided guardianship of infants during probate of their personal property. Trial was first by compurgation, with oath-helpers swearing to or against the veracity of the alleged offender's oath.
The ecclesiastical court's penalties were intended to reform and determined on a case-by-case basis. The canon law of Christendom was followed, without much change by the English church or nation. A penitent who was sincerely contrite was first expected to confess his sin to a priest, who gave him God's forgiveness. This removed the guilt of the sin and eternal punishment in hell. But then justice required a "satisfaction", which could be met in this world or in the next. Accordingly, the priest or ecclesiastical court then imposed a "penance", i.e. some act of a religious nature. Penance could include confession and public repentance of the sin before the parish, making apologies and reparation to persons affected, public embarrassment such as being dunked in water (e.g. for women scolds), walking a route barefoot and clad only in one's underwear, whippings, extra work, fasting, vigils, prayers for help to live righteously, reading, meditation, solitary life, a diet of bread and water for a specified time, fines, gifts to the church, alms to the poor, various kinds of good deeds, and imprisonment in a "penitentiary". For more serious sins, there could be a long fast, a diet of bread and water for a number of years, or a distant pilgrimage, for instance to Rome or Jerusalem. For those whose penance was incomplete at the time of their death, there was a temporary state of purgatory wherein some sort of suffering fulflled the remaining debt. Souls in purgatory could be aided by the prayers of the faithful on earth. The truly penitent could hope for the remission of all or part of their purgation by obtaining an indulgence from a higher authority than the priest.
The ultimate penalty of the church was excommunication, a social ostracism in which no one could give the person drink, food, or shelter and he could speak only to his spouse and servants. Excommunication included denial of the sacraments of baptism, penance, mass [lord's supper}, and extreme unction [prayers for spiritual healing] at death; which were necessary for salvation of the soul; and the sacrament of confirmation. A person could also be denied a Christian burial in consecrated ground. However, the person could still marry and make a will. The purpose of excommunication was to restore the person to spiritual health rather than to punish him. Excommunication was usually imposed for failure to obey an order or for showing contempt of the law or of the courts. It required a hearing and a written reason. The king's court could order a recalcitrant excommunicant imprisoned until he satisfied the claims of the church. If this measure failed, it was possible to turn the offender over to the state for punishment, e.g. for blasphemy or heresy. Blasphemy was thought to cause God's wrath expressed in famine, pestilence, and earthquake and was usually punished by a fine or corporal punishment, e.g. perforation or amputation of the tongue. It was tacitly understood that the punishment for heresy was death by burning. There were no heresy cases up to 1400 and few after that. The state usually assured itself the sentence was just before imposing it. The court of the rural dean was the ecclesiastical parallel of the hundred court of secular jurisdiction and usually had the same land boundaries. The archdeacons, who had been ministers of the bishop in all parts of his diocese alike, were now each assigned to one district, which usually had the same boundaries as the county. Each bishop headed a diocese. Over the bishops were the two Archbishops of Canterbury and of York.
The ecclesiastical court had one judge and no jury. Most cases dealt with offenses against the church, such as working on Sunday, and sexual mores. The court used teatimony and depositions of witnesses, oaths of the parties, confessions, physical and written evidence, presumptions of common knowledge, and inquests of impartial, sworn men who made unanimous determinations. The accuser had to meet the burden of proof. The accused could be required to answer questions under oath, thus giving evidence against himself. It was not necessary to have an accuser; a judge could open a case based on public rumor. The judge made a written decision that did not incude his reasoning. He read the decision aloud in a public session of the court. If an accused disobeyed a court order to appear or to do penance, he could be excommunicated.
Common law held that ecclesiastical courts could not give money damages. But costs were paid by the loser and included expenses of producing witnesses, writing of documents, and fees of lawyers. An appeal could be made from the archdeacon to the bishop to the metropolitan to the Pope. Henry acknowledged occasional appellate authority of the pope, but expected his clergy to elect bishops of his choice.
There was a separate judicial system for the laws of the forest. There were itinerant justices of the forests and four verderers of each forest county, who were elected by the votes of the full county court, twelve knights appointed to keep vert [everything bearing green leaves] and venison, and foresters of the king and of the lords who had lands within the limits of the forests. Every three years, the officers visited the forests in preparation for the courts of the forest held by the itinerant justices. The inferior courts were the woodmote, held every forty days, and the swein [freeman or freeholder within the forest] mote, held three times yearly before the verderers as justices, in which all who were obliged to attend as suitors of the county court to serve on juries and inquests were to be present.
In this lawsuit, King Henry I decided that since the abbots and monks of Battle had proved before him that certain lands, belonging to the manor of Alciston, are no possession of theirs, so they are to be quit of the services due there: " Henry, king of the English, to Ralph, bishop of Chichester, and all his ministers of Sussex, greeting. Know that as the abbot of Battle and the monks deraigned [proved] before me that they do not have those lands which you said they had, namely, Ovington, Coding ( in Hove), Batsford (in Warbleton), Daningawurde, Shuyswell ( in Etchingham), Boarzell ( in Ticehurst), Winenham, Wertesce, Brembreshoc and Seuredeswelle, which of old belonged to Alciston and contain seven hides of land of the fifty hides in Alciston and its appurtenances, I order that they shall be free and quit on this account and that none shall molest them any further, but concerning these lands and these hides they shall be completely free and quit as concerning lands which they do not have and of which they are not seised. I also order by royal authority that their manor called Alciston, which my father gave to the church of Battle with other lands for his soul, shall be so free and quit of shires and hundreds and all customs of land-service as my father himself held it most freely and quietly, and namely concerning the work on London Bridge and on the castle of Pevensey. This I command upon my forfeiture. Witness: William de Pont de l'Arche. At Westbourne.
In this lawsuit, King Henry I ordered a bishop and sheriff to put another bishop in possession of certain churches according to the verdict of twelve men: " Henry, by God's grace, etc. to H(erbert), bishop of Norwich, and Robert the sheriff, greeting. I order that you let Richard, bishop of London, have the churches of Blythburgh and Stowe with all the customs that belong to them as twelve among the better men of the hundred will be able to swear and as I ordered in my other writ. And let this not be left undone because of my voyage to Normandy, and let him hold them in peace and honour with suit, soke, toll and team and infangthief and with all other customs, as ever any of my predecessors most honourably and most quietly held them. Witness, etc."