King's ban
The king's ban (German: Königsbann, Latin: bannus, more rarely bannum, from the OHG: ban) was the exercise of royal jurisdiction by a king in the Middle Ages, especially in the Holy Roman Empire.
A specific ban (German: Bann) identified:
- the actual order or prohibition
- the penalties for contravening the ban
- the region to which the ban applied
The king's ban in the legal history of the Holy Roman Empire was divided into several distinct types depending on their function:
- Heerbann, the right to raise an army,
- Blutbann (blood courts; high jurisdiction which included capital punishment),
- Friedensbann (special royal protection of people and property),
- Verordnungsbann (the authority to decide legal standards) and
- Verwaltungsbann (the force to be used).
The king used a so-called Bannleihe ("ban investiture") to transfer (invest) the ban, especially the Blutbann, to counts or advocates to exercise.
See also
- Anathema Kirchenbann
- Ban (medieval)
- Heerbann
- Imperial ban
- Zwing und Bann lower level jurisdiction in Switzerland
Literature
- Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch, I 1967, Sp. 1341 - 1348 s.v. bannus
- Heinrich Mitteis; Heinz Lieberich, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte. Ein Studienbuch. Munich, 1974 u.ö.