The appeal of another court: judicial subsidiarity in late medieval Brabant (1430–1523)

This article examines the impact of the Feudal Court, a princely court overseeing seigneurial justice, on local courts in fifteenth-century Brabant. Following Brabant’s incorporation into the Burgundian Netherlands, princely courts were institutionalised to supervise feudal and seigneurial matters, theoretically allowing subjects to appeal decisions from seigneurial courts. Drawing on court registers and case files, the article argues that the Feudal Court operated according to the principle of subsidiarity. While most seigneurial courts never experienced an appeal against their decisions, the Feudal Court did hear cases when seigneurial subjects sought an alternative forum. The reasons why subjects pursued such alternatives are difficult to determine, yet the study highlights a paradox: most appeals originated from the courts of the most powerful lords. These lords, who controlled multiple seigneuries, were rarely directly involved in proceedings before the princely court, and some evidently exhibited little interest. This case illuminates the coexistence of local and central authority in pre-modern Europe, demonstrating how hierarchical judicial structures could function without fundamentally undermining the autonomy of local seigneurial justice.