CURIA REGIS (Lat.). The king's court. In English Law. A court established in England by William the Conqueror in his own hall.
It was the "great universal" court of the king dom; from the dismemberment of which are de rived the present four superior courts in England, viz.: the High Court of Chancery, and the three superior courts of common law, to-wit, The Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer. It was composed of the king's great officers of state resi dent in his palace and usually attendant on his per son ; such as the lord high constable and lord marescal (who chiefly presided in matters of honor and of arms), the lord high steward and lord great chamberlain, the steward of the household, the lord chancellor (whose peculiar duty it was to keep the king's seal, and examine all such writs, grants, and letters as were to pass under that authority), and tha lord high treasurer, who was the principal ad viser in all matters relating to the revenue. These high officers were assisted by certain persons learned in the laws, who were called the king's justiciars or justices, and by the greater barons of parliament, all of whom had a seat in the aula regia, and form ed a kind of court of appeal, or rather of advice In matters of great moment and difficulty. These, in their several departments, transacted all secular business, both civil and criminal, and all matters of tbs revenue ; and over all praalded one special mag istrate, called the chief justiciar, or capita/is justi ciarius totius Angliw, who was also the principal minister of state, the second man in the kingdom, and, by virtue of his office, guardian of the realm in the king's, absence. This court was bound to follow the king's household in all his expeditions; on which account the trial of common causes in it was found very burdensome to the people, and accord ingly the 11th chapter of Magna Marta enacted that "communia placita non Requantur euriani regis, Red tcneantur in aliquo certo loco," which certain place was established in Westminster Hall (where the aula regis originally sat, when the king resided in that city), and there It has ever since continued, under the name of Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench. It was under the reign
of Edward I. that the other several officers of the chief justiciar were subdivided and broken Into dis tinct courts of judicature. A court of chivalry, to regulate the king's domestic servants, and an august tribunal for the trial of delinquent peers, were erected; while the barons reserved to themselves in parliament the right of reviewing the sentences of the other courts in the last resort ; but the distribu tion of common justice between man and man was arranged by giving to the court of chancery juris diction to issue all original writs under the great seal to other courts; the exchequer to manage the king's revenue, the common pleas to determine all causes between private subjects, and the court of king's bench retaining all the jurisdiction not cantoned out to tlia other courts, and particularly the sole cognizance of pleas of the crown, or crim inal causes. 3 Steph. Com. 397 ; 3 Bla. Com. 38 ; Bract. 1. 3. tr. 1, c. 7 ; Fleta, Abr. 2, cc. 2, 3 ; Gil bert, Hist. C. Pleas, Introd. 18; 1 Reeve, Hist. E. LI. 48.
The Council of the King. Its early nature is not well understood. Probably its work ing body consisted of the king's great officers of state and the judges ; perhaps others were added to it on particular occasion. It trans acted business of state, sometimes taxation and legislation. It was a court of appeal and exercised original jurisdiction. It answered petitions, which was its chief duty. It might send the petition to one of the ordinary courts or lay it before the king. It came to provide new remedies for new wrongs and distribute justice for each man's deserts. Later it was tending to become an executive body.
Formerly the Chancellor was the leading legal member of the Council. By the end of the Middle Ages the Chancery has become a court, but its connection with the Council is so close that in most cases the Council gives the judgment of the court. In the Tudor period the Council was re-organized and the Chancery became separate from it.