Consistory Court

A consistory court is a type of ecclesiastical court of the Church of England, one maintained in every diocese except Canterbury, where the equivalent body is called the Commissary Court, tracing its origin to a charter of William the Conqueror. Originally these courts held broad authority, hearing cases of defamation, probate and matrimonial disputes as well as general questions of clergy and lay discipline and the use of consecrated church property, but a series of nineteenth-century reforms stripped most of that reach away: defamation jurisdiction ended in 1855, probate moved to a new Court of Probate in 1857, and matrimonial cases passed to a Divorce Court soon after. Today a consistory court's main working role is faculty jurisdiction, granting or refusing permission to alter a church building or consecrated churchyard, along with a residual role in clergy discipline, most of which the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 moved to newer bishop's disciplinary tribunals. Appeals from a consistory court go to the Court of Arches in the Province of Canterbury or the Chancery Court of York in the Province of York, and in some cases on to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.