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Suing in a local jurisdictional court in late medieval Catalonia. The case of Caldes de Malavella (1328–1369)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2014

LLUÍS SALES I FAVÀ
LLUÍS SALES I FAVÀ*
Affiliation:
University of Girona.
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Abstract

This article addresses the question of the effectiveness of court litigation over private contracts. Through a case study of fourteenth-century Caldes de Malavella, in northeastern Catalonia, it provides an instructive example of contract registration and enforcement. A large peasant clientele made use of the institutional framework provided by a compact jurisdictional estate. We also explore the ways in which the court system within this barony was affected by the demands of external jurisdictions. The article concludes that the whole system was efficient in prosecuting breach of contract, in serving broader mercantile strategies, and even in softening tensions among parties.

Poursuivre en justice devant un tribunal local en catalogne, à la fin du moyen age. le cas de caldes de malavella (1328–1369)

Cet article aborde la question de l'efficacité des actions en justice lorsqu'il est question de contrats privés. Au XIVe siècle, Caldes de Malavella, dans le nord-est de la Catalogne, fournit un exemple instructif de l'enregistrement des contrats et de leur exécution. Nous voyons une importante clientèle paysanne y faire usage du cadre institutionnel mis à disposition par un état juridictionnel fort compact. Nous explorons également comment le système judiciaire, au sein de cette baronnie, a été affecté par les exigences des juridictions extérieures. Nous concluons que l'ensemble du système juridique fut efficace, permettant de poursuivre ceux qui avaient rompu un contrat, d'envisager des stratégies à plus grande échelle sur le marché et même de réussir à atténuer les tensions entre les parties.

Streitfälle vor einem örtlichen gerichtshof im spätmittelalterlichen katalonien. der fall caldes de malavella (1328–1369)

Dieser Beitrag geht der Frage nach, wie wirksam es war, Streitfälle über private Verträge gerichtlich auszutragen. Unsere Fallstudie zu Caldes de Malavella im nordöstlichen Katalonien im 14. Jahrhundert bietet ein instruktives Beispiel der Vertragsregistrierung und -durchsetzung. Eine große bäuerliche Klientel nutzte den institutionellen Rahmen, den ihr ein kompaktes gutsherrschaftliches Gericht bot. Wir untersuchen auch, in welcher Weise das Rechtssystem innerhalb dieser Baronie durch die Forderungen auswärtiger Gerichtsbarkeiten beeinflusst wurde. Der Beitrag kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass das ganze System wirkungsvoll war, um Vertragsbrüche anzuzeigen, sich für weitergehende Handelsstrategien als dienlich erwies und sogar Spannungen zwischen Vertragsparteien schlichten half.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 29 , Issue 1: SPECIAL ISSUE: LAW COURTS, CONTRACTS AND RURAL SOCIETY IN EUROPE 1200–1600. , May 2014 , pp. 49 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 This article falls within the scope of two research projects, funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, and both directed by Pere Orti, University of Girona: ‘Crédito y morosidad en la Cataluña nororiental (siglos XIV y XV)’ (HAR2008-05757), and ‘Mercado financiero y pequeñas ciudades en la Cataluña nororiental de los siglos XIV y XV’ (HAR2011-27121).

2 See the pioneering studies of Emery, Richard W., The Jews of Perpignan in the thirteenth century: an economic study based on notarial records (New York, 1959)Google Scholar; García Sanz, Arcadi, ‘Tipos ausetanos de la “commenda” en el siglo XIII’, Ausa 30, 3 (1959), 284–93Google Scholar; Sanz, Arcadi García, ‘Los intereses en los préstamos de los judíos de Vich durante la primera mitad del siglo XIV’, Ausa 4 (1962), 247–55Google Scholar; Christian Guilleré, ‘Le crédit à Gérone au début du XIVe siècle (1321–1330)’, in La documentación notarial y la historia. Actas II coloquio de metodología aplicada de Santiago de Compostela (Santiago de Compostela, 1984), 363–79; Guilleré, Christian, ‘Notariat et crédit: Gérone et ses campagnes dans les années 1330–1340’, in Ménant, François and Redon, Odile eds., Notaires et crédit dans l'Occident méditerranéen médiéval, Collection de l’École Française de Rome, 343 (Rome, 2004), 207–24Google Scholar. Some alternative sources do exist, and they have been sporadically used. See, for example, the work of Carles Vela, on private account books: Vela, Carles, ‘Cobrar o no cobrar: la negociación en el comercio al por menor’, in Mallol, Maria Teresa Ferrer ed., Negociar en la Edad Media. Actas del coloquio celebrado en Barcelona los días 14, 15 y 16 de octubre de 2004 (Barcelona, Madrid and Val-de-Marne, 2005), 553–70Google Scholar; Vela, Carles, ‘Les compravendes al detall i a crèdit en el món artesà. El cas dels especiers i els candelers’, in Martínez, Manuel Sánchez ed., ‘El món del crèdit a la Barcelona medieval’, Barcelona Quaderns d'Història, 13 (Barcelona, 2007), 129–56Google Scholar.

3 See the first reflections on the uses of notarial records by Cañameras, Félix Duran, ‘Notas para la historia del notariado catalán’, Estudios históricos y documentos de los Archivos de Protocoles 3 (1955), 71–207Google Scholar. Today, the variety of issues dealt with in two Catalan Congresses of Notarial History clearly demonstrates the progress in our understanding of this type of evidence: Travé, Josep Maria Sans ed., Actes del primer Congrés d'Història del notariat català (Barcelona, 1994)Google Scholar and also Burniol, Juan José López and Travé, Josep Maria Sans eds., Actes del segon Congrés d'Història del notariat català (Barcelona, 2000)Google Scholar. From the first Congress, see especially Sebastià Solé Cot and Pere Verdés Pijoan, ‘L'aportació dels notaris a la societat catalana en els camps del dret, la història, la literatura i la política’, in Sans Travé, Actes del primer Congrés, 11–130. See, also, the many editions of notarial sources produced by the Fundació Noguera, e.g. Molins, Rafael Ginebra ed., El Manual primer de l'Arxiu de la Cúria Fumada de Vic (1230–1233) (2 vols., Barcelona, 1998)Google Scholar; Cazeneuve, X., Coll, M. C. and Delgado, Josep Hernando eds., El manual de Joan de Cabreny (1385–1386) (Barcelona, 1999)Google Scholar.

4 This is the definition given by Rafel Ginebra Molins, ‘Les escrivanies eclesiàstiques a Catalunya’, in López Burniol and Sans Travé, Actes del segon Congrés, 110.

5 On the Justicia of the city of Valencia, see the recent editions of the acts issued by its officials in Rodríguez, Enric Guinot, Díeguez, Maria Àngels and Ferragud, Carmel eds., Llibre de la Cort del Justícia de València (3 vols., Valencia, 2008)Google Scholar.

6 See the editions of court records produced by the University of Valencia: Guinot Rodríguez, Díeguez and Ferragud eds., Llibre de la Cort; Torró, Josep ed., Llibre de la Cort del Justícia de Cocentaina (2 vols., Valencia, 2009)Google Scholar; Palomares, Salvador Ferrando and López, Noélia Rangel eds., Llibre de la Cort del Justícia de Sueca (1457) (València, 2011)Google Scholar and Diéguez, Maria Àngels and Ferragut, Concha eds., Llibre de la Cort del Justícia d'Alcoi (1263–1265) (Valencia, 2012)Google Scholar. Besides this, see the classic study of Taverner, Ferran Valls i, ‘La cour comtal barcelonaise’, Revue Historique de Droit Français et Étranger 14 (1935), 662–82Google Scholar. Also important is work on the diplomacy of the chancellery of the counts of Urgell, from the ninth to the fifteenth century. See Trenchs, José and Conde, Rafael, La escribanía-cancillería de los condes de Urgel (S.IX–1414), Folia Munichensia (Zaragoza, 1985), 9–128Google Scholar. For an edition of a local court book of Teruel, see Conde, Rafael, ‘El “Manual” de cort de García Sánchez de Campos, juez de Teruel (1411–1412)’, Saitabi 37 (1987), 95–113Google Scholar. Also interesting is the edition of the account book of the royal bailiff of Barcelona: Homs, Josep Maria Casas ed., Llibre del batlle reial de Barcelona Berenguer Morey, 1375–1378 (Barcelona, 1976)Google Scholar. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning two works about bailiffs’ account books from the Lleida region that shed light on judicial matters: Prim Bertran Roigé, ‘El llibre del batlle reial de Lleida, Ramon de Carcassona (1366–1369)’, in Miscel·lània homenatge al Professor Salvador Roca i Lletjós (Lleida, 1981), 158–86; and Roigé, Prim Bertran, ‘Els jueus en els llibres de batlle i cort de Cervera (1354–1357)’, Ilerda 44 (1983), 189–205Google Scholar.

7 See, particularly, Viciano, Pau, ‘Marché du crédit et structuration de l'espace rural’, Histoire et Societés Rurales 21, 4 (2001), 11–38Google Scholar, and also Furió, Antoni, ‘Crédit, endettement et justice: prêteurs et débiteurs devant le juge dans le royaume de Valence (XIIIe–XVe siècle)’, in Claustre, Julie ed., La dette et le juge. Juridiction gracieuse et juridiction contentieuse du XIIIe au XVe siècle (Paris, 2006), 19–54Google Scholar.

8 Other local history works concerning jurisdictional bailiffs and their courts include: Nom de Déu, José Ramon Magdalena, Judíos y cristianos ante la ‘Cort de Justícia’ de Castellón (Castelló de la Plana, 1988)Google Scholar; Vidal, Gemma Perich i, La cort del batlle de Castellar. Cúria senyorial: segona meitat S. XV–primera meitat S. XVIII (Sabadell, 1989)Google Scholar; Pascual Marzal Rodríguez, ‘El justícia civil de Valencia durante el reinado de Felipe II’, in Dels furs a l'estatut: actes del I Congrès d'Administració Valenciana: de la història a la modernitat (Valencia, 1992), 707–14; Reig, Ximo Navarro, ‘El sistema procesal en los registros contestanos’, Alberri. Quadern d'investigació del Centre d'Estudis Contestans 8 (1995), 65–92Google Scholar; Barrabeig, Gerard Carceller i, ‘L'exercici de la justícia senyorial a la baixa edat mitjana: el cas de la baronia de Queralt’, Aplec de Treballs 15 (1997), 5–16Google Scholar; Daura, Josep Serrano, La Torre de l'Espanyol (Ribera d'Ebre). Història, règim senyorial i aspectes del seu antic dret local, en particular els Costums del 1517 (Tarragona, 1997), 133–8Google Scholar and 159–65; Buxens, Maria Assumpció Zapata, Les jurisdiccions locals en el pas de l'edat mitjana a l'edat moderna: els batlles de sachs i els batlles reials a la Baronia Desbosch (Mataró, 1998)Google Scholar. Examples of territorial customs with procedural material: VII Centenari dels Costums d'Orta (1296–1996). Actes de les jornades d'estudi (Ajuntament d'Horta de Sant Joan, Calaceit, 1997); Estragués, Tomàs Montagut and Daura, Josep Serrano eds., Jornades d'estudi sobre els Costums de la Batllia de Miravet (Tarragona, 2002)Google Scholar. See also Taberner, Ferran Valls ed., Els Costums de Miravet (Màlaga, 1992)Google Scholar; Taberner, Ferran Valls ed., Els Costums de Perpinyà (Màlaga, 1992)Google Scholar and Fajardo, Antoni Cobos ed., Costums de Girona, de Tomàs Mieres (Girona, 2001)Google Scholar.

9 Some institutional and legal historians have shed light on civil law proceedings of Catalan courts from the Ancien Regime. See Lázaro de Dou y de Bassols, Ramon, Instituciones del derecho público general de España con noticia del particular de Cataluña y de las principales reglas de gobierno en cualquier estado (Madrid, 1802)Google Scholar; Brocà de Montagut, Guillem Maria, Historia del derecho de Cataluña especialmente del civil y exposición de las instituciones del derecho civil del mismo territorio en relación con el Código Civil de España y la jurisprudencia, 2 vols., 2nd edn. (Barcelona, 1985–1987), 1, 369Google Scholar; Maria Borrell, Antoni, Dret Civil vigent a Catalunya, 8 vols. (Barcelona, 1923), vol. 3Google Scholar; Lalinde Abadía, Jesús, La jurisdicción real inferior en Cataluña (‘Corts, veguers, batlles’) (Barcelona, 1966)Google Scholar; Guri, Josep Maria Pons, ‘Ordinacions i capítols del vescomtat de Cabrera (anys 1292–1520)’, in Guri, Josep Maria Pons ed., Recull d'estudis d'història jurídica catalana, 4 vols. (Barcelona, 1989), vol. 1, 77–84Google Scholar; Flocel Sabaté Curull, ‘El veguer i la vegueria de Tortosa i Ribera d'Ebre al segle XIV’, Recerca [Tortosa] 2 (1997), 115–52, specifically 135–41. See also Maria Salrach, Josep, ‘Prácticas judiciales, transformación social y acción política en Cataluña (siglos IX–XIII)’, Hispania 197, 57 (1997), 1009–48Google Scholar, and Serra, Marc Torras, ‘Escrivanies judicials, vicarials i senyorials’, in Travé, Sans and Burniol, López eds., Actes del segon Congrés, 355–407Google Scholar. On Valencia, see Traver, F. A. Roca, La jurisdicción civil del Justicia de Valencia (1238–1321) (Valencia, 1992)Google Scholar.

10 The registers correspond to the following class marks in the Historical Archive of Girona (hereafter AHG). The dating shows the first and last entries of each book. All registers that contain civil law procedures are: AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 4 (9.12.1328–20.12.1332) from Cassà de la Selva; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 8 (25.7.1334–25.3.1335) from Caldes de Malavella; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 12 (3.4.1335–7.3.1337) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 15 (4.8.1338–20.11.1339) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17 (3.1.1340–28.2.1341) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 23 (1.7.1342–30.8.1343) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 573 (4.3.1344–31.10.1344) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 575 (15.3.1345–1.11.1345) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 29 (16.10.1345–12.2.1347) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 565 (5.4.1348–7.12.1349) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 53 (21.1.1356–14.9.1358) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 58 (9.12.1358–2.3.1360) from Caldes; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 70 (4.8.1363–6.6.1365) from Caldes; and AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 583 (12.6.1368–3.4.1369) from Caldes. The correspondence books are: AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 4 (9.12.1328–20.12.1332) from Cassà de la Selva; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 572 (8.3.1341–[…].8.1343) from Caldes; and AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 574 (8.1.1345–4.3.1345) from Caldes.

11 On 20 August 1341, Ferrer de Llagostera, a minor lord acting as clerk of the jurisdictional lord, leased to Ferrer Riurans both notarial and court scribal offices in Caldes. Riurans accepted the conditions of the contract and obliged himself to stay by the town gate whilst accomplishing his new job. See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 21, fo. 45r–45v (20.8.1341).

12 An ordinance concerning the salaries of the officials of the court has been summarised and discussed by Josep Maria Pons Guri, ‘Taxacions dels salaris de notaris i escrivans en jurisdiccions baronals de les terres gironines (Palafrugell, Bàscara, Caldes de Malavella, Llagostera, Cassà de la Selva i vescomtat de Cabrera)’, in Pons Guri, Recull, vol. 1, 95–157. For a more general work on the internal organisation of lordships, see Curull, Flocel Sabaté, El territori de la Catalunya medieval: percepció de l'espai i divisió territorial al llarg de l'edat mitjana (Barcelona, 1997), 227–60Google Scholar.

13 Descriptions of each proceedure are given in Lluís Sales i Favà, ‘Los libros de la corte del baile: fuente para el estudio de las élites urbanas y sus actividades financieras en el noreste catalán (S.XIV–XV)’, in Fuentes para el estudio del negocio fiscal y financiero en los reinos hispánicos (Siglos XIV–XVI) (Madrid, 2010), 249–65.

14 On claims, see Brocà de Montagut, Historia, 370.

15 The provisional nature of seizures is indicated in the Privileges of Llagostera, granted to its inhabitants in 1241, which stated that the court had to proceed with caution, not putting families in risk of losing their economic viability. Therefore, these Privileges banned direct confiscations in indebtedness suits, although seizure was permitted, albeit not seizures of grain, cloth, weapons and beds. See Varas, Montse, 1241, un privilegi reial, Crònica de l'Arxiu de Llagostera (Llagostera, 1996), 13–14Google Scholar. For the provisional nature of seizures, see also Torras Serra, ‘Escrivanies’, 389–90.

16 We assume that those defendants who had money in cash that happened to be seized had not planned to return it to the plaintiff, but had presumably already agreed to its surrender to other lenders. The exhaustive knowledge that financiers had about their clients’ availability of cash should be noted. It seems that in those suits where seizures affected money in cash and not movables or crops (which were far more common) the plaintiff had comprehensive information about the liquidity of his pool of clients.

17 This legal faculty, named benefici d'excussió, was discussed by Borrell, Dret Civil, 451 and 455.

18 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 44v–45r (16.5.1340).

19 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 44v (16.5.1340).

20 For the Catalan small town or vila of the late middle ages see, especially, Zurita, Víctor Farías, El mas i la vila: els fonaments d'una societat senyorialitzada (segles XI–XIV) (Valencia, 2009)Google Scholar. For the origins and evolution of market towns, To Figueras, Lluís, ‘Els remences i el desenvolupament de les viles catalanes a l'entorn de 1200’, in Assier-Andreu, L. and Sala, Raymond eds., La ciutat i els poders. La ville et les pouvoirs: Actes du Colloque du Huitième centenaire de la Charte de Perpignan, 23–25 octobre 1997 (Perpinyà, 2000), 131–56Google Scholar, and also Salrach, Josep Maria, ‘Mercats i fires: el despertar de l'economia en terres de Besalú (segles IX–XIV)’, Patronat d'Estudis Històrics d'Olot i Comarca (Annals) 15 (1999), 9–36Google Scholar.

21 See Farías Zurita, El mas i la vila, 282–311.

22 For this prominent family of medieval Catalonia, see Shideler, John C., A medieval Catalan noble family: the Montcadas, 1000–1230 (Berkeley, 1983)Google Scholar.

23 On the evolution of Cassà de la Selva see Favà, Lluís Sales, ‘El setge i l'ocupació del castell de Cassà de la Selva (1329): un conflicte jurisdiccional entre senyories provocat per les alienacions del patrimoni reial’, Quaderns de la Selva 22 (2010), 55–77Google Scholar, and also Zurita, Víctor Farías, ‘Gentes de convicino emebant et vendebant. Sobre la difícil història del mercat de Cassà’, Quaderns de la Selva 15 (2003), 21–32Google Scholar.

24 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 565, fo. 91r (8.6.1349).

25 Even the people who owned no goods, the poorest of the community, could be prosecuted.

26 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 29, fo. 34v (21.1.1346). The ashes were probably used to wash clothes.

27 On Tossa and Lloret, see Guri, Josep Maria Pons, ‘La sentència sobre el castell de Lloret’, Annals de l'Institut d'Estudis Gironins 26 (1982), 87–108Google Scholar, and also Zuchitello, Mario, ‘Jurisdiccions compartides: els exemples de Tossa i Lloret de Mar’, Quaderns de la Selva 13 (2001), 109–40Google Scholar.

28 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 565, fo. 36v (19.9.1348).

29 For commercial contacts between Girona and the peasantry from the hinterland, see Guilleré, Christian, Girona al segle XIV, 2 vols. (Barcelona, 1993–1994)Google Scholar.

30 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 29, fo. 18v (7.12.1345).

31 For this Vives family, see Favà, Lluís Sales i, ‘Crédito y redes urbanas: el caso de Girona y las pequeñas ciudades de su entorno en el siglo XIV’, in Carvajal de la Vega, D., Rodríguez, J. Añíbarro and Casado, I. Vitores eds., Redes sociales y económicas en el mundo bajomedieval (Valladolid, 2011), 129–50Google Scholar.

32 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 70, fo. 71r–71v (22.12.1363).

33 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 46, fo. 118v (16.12.1353).

34 Briggs, Chris, ‘Seigniorial control of villagers’ litigation beyond the manor in later medieval England’, Historical Research 81, 213 (2008), 399Google Scholar.

35 Predictam iure firmam ei facit donec ipse Bernardo abstraxerit dictum Iacobum a curia officialis domini Episcopi Gerunde, in quam ipsum detinet ratione illus debiti per qua dicta empara facta extitit. See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 71v (21.7.1340). See more on this procedure in section 7 on ‘Ferma de dret and court efficiency’.

36 For similar features in medieval English courts: Guth, Delloyd J., ‘Enforcing late-medieval law: patterns in litigation during Henry VII's reign’, in Baker, J. H. ed., Legal records and the historian. Papers presented to the Cambridge Legal History Conference, 7–10 July 1975, and in Lincoln's Inn Old Hall on 3 July 1974 (London, 1978), 82Google Scholar and 96.

37 On the issue of choosing courts depending on their speediness and efficiency, see Briggs, Chris, ‘Manor court procedures, debt litigation levels, and rural credit provision in England, c.1290–c.1380’, Law and History Review 24, 3 (2006), 519–58Google Scholar.

38 See, for example, Pairó, Albert Riera i, ‘Deutes insatisfets i dret de marca: l'exemple de Bàscara al segle XIV’, Annals de l'Institut d'Estudis Empordanesos 29 (1996), 79–96Google Scholar.

39 Lopez, Robert S., The commercial revolution of the middle ages, 950–1350 (Cambridge, 1976)Google Scholar; Britnell, R. H., The commercialisation of English society 1000–1500, 2nd edn. (Manchester, 1996)Google Scholar.

40 For this distinction, see Julie Claustre, ‘Introduction’, in Claustre, La dette et le juge, 9–14.

41 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 29, fo. 51v. (20.3.1346).

42 See Maria Àngels Adroer Pellicer and Josep Matas Balaguer, ‘Sobre la propietat i la regència de les notaries de la demarcació de Girona’, in Sans Travé, Actes del primer Congrés, 511. For another discussion of this issue see Torras Serra, ‘Escrivanies’, 361–70. Some examples of both (notarial and court scriptoria) leases to the same scribe are given in Mallol, Maria Teresa Ferrer, ‘Les escrivanies públiques d'Alacant, Elx, Oriola i Guardamar’, in Travé, Josep Maria Sans i ed., Estudis sobre història de la institució notarial a Catalunya en honor de Raimon Noguera (Barcelona, 1988), 115–31Google Scholar.

43 On the symbiotic growth of notaries and jurisdictional courts – stimulated by the extension of credit – see Lord Smail, Daniel, ‘Notaries, courts and the legal culture of late medieval Marseille’, in Reyerson, Kathryn and Drendel, John eds., Urban and rural communities in medieval France (Provence and Lenguadoc, 1000–1500) (Leiden, 1998), 34–43Google Scholar. The author argues that the consolidation of courts was stimulated more by the demand of credit consumers than by specific public policies.

44 On the cost of issuing documents derived from gracious jurisdiction, see Marsilla, Juan Vicente García, Vivir a crédito en la Valencia medieval: de los orígenes del sistema censal al endeudamiento del municipio (Valencia, 2002), 76Google Scholar; and Furió, Antoni, ‘Endettement paysan et crédit dans la péninsule ibérique au bas moyen âge’, in Berthe, M. ed., Endettement paysan et crédit rural dans l'Europe médiévale et moderne: Actes des XVIIes journées internationales d'histoire de l'abbaye de Flaran, Septembre 1995 (Toulouse, 1998), 145Google Scholar.

45 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 70, fo. 119r (4.6.1364).

46 See this obligation: AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 23, fo. 2v–3r (8.7.1342).

47 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 23, fo. 112r–115v (19.5.1343).

48 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 28, fo. 27v (30.1.1346).

49 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 29, fo. 65r–65v (8.5.1346).

50 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 54v (6.6.1340).

51 See Dou y de Bassols, Instituciones, vol. VI, 396–7.

52 In English manor courts the transfer of a suit to informal mechanisms of settlement was allowed through a specific seigniorial licence, called licentia concordandi. Alternatively, litigants could arrange a ‘loveday’ (dies amoris) in order to seek a solution outside the court. On these mechanisms, see Poos, L. R. and Bonfield, Lloyd eds., Select cases in manorial courts, 1250–1550: property and family law (London, 1998)Google Scholar; and also Chris Briggs, ‘Rural credit, debt litigation and manor courts in England, c.1290–c.1380’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2003), 87–116. For extrajudicial negotiation in commercial lawsuits, see Kagan, Richard, ‘A golden age of litigation: Castile, 1500–1700’, in Bossy, J. ed., Disputes and settlements: law and human relations in the West (Cambridge, 1983), 153Google Scholar; Rawcliffe, Carole, ‘“That kindliness should be cherished more, and discord driven out”: the settlement of commercial disputes by arbitration in later medieval England’, in Kermode, Jennifer ed., Enterprise and individuals in fifteenth-century England, (Stroud, 1991), 99–103Google Scholar; Heyn, Udo, Peacemaking in Medieval Europe: a historical and bibliographical guide (Claremont, 1997)Google Scholar; Reyerson, Kathryn L., ‘“In pace et sine lite”: methods of resolution of indebtedness outside the court system’, Russian History 28, 1 (2001), 315–24Google Scholar; Klerman, Daniel, ‘Settlement and the decline of private prosecution in thirteenth-century England’, Law and History Review 19, 1 (2001), 1–65Google Scholar.

53 Violaris were disguised loans in the form of a purchase of a rent, where the seller was the debtor and the buyer the creditor. The annuity was the result of applying a tax rate (originally at 14.28 per cent) over the capital. Even if the capital was never refunded, the violari had a limited duration, usually the life of two selected people, the names of which were designated in its registration. On violaris, see Mànuel, Daniel Rubio, ‘El crèdit a llarg termini a Barcelona a la segona meitat del segle XIV: els censals morts i els violaris’, Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d'Estudis Històrics 14 (2003), 159–78Google Scholar and also Pere Orti Gost, ‘Les finances municipals de la Barcelona dels segles XIV i XV: del censal a la Taula de Canvi’, in Sánchez Martínez, El món, 261–3.

54 According to customary law, the seizure had to be activated within a year after the first request had been made. See the heading ‘De iudicis et firmis iuris’ in Cobos Fajardo, Costums, 63 and also 221.

55 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 23, fo. 110r (12.5.1343).

56 Dou y de Bassols, Instituciones, vol. VI, 415.

57 Or, ‘he who for a longer time has had rights against them’, as it appears in a 1335 entry of a summons. See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 12, fo. 71r (18.12.1335).

58 For some recovered debts with their correspondent procedural costs, see: AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 26, fo. 112r (14.6.1344) – 4 d. of costs for a debt of 2 s.; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 31, fo. 108r–108v (20.8.1347) – 2 s. to recover 37 s.; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 31, fo. 121v (28.8.1347) – 12 s. for claiming 10 s.; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 31, fo. 123v (1.9.1347) – 6 s. for 50 s.; AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 34, fo. 16r (30.3.1349) – 7 d. for 9 s. 6 d.

59 See an extraordinary suit where it was determined that the procedural costs amounted to 100 s. This lawsuit was sent to the episcopal court in Girona. AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 33, fo. 35v (5.5.1348).

60 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 51r (26.5.1340).

61 See the fourth heading in Cobos Fajardo, Costums, 63.

62 Roca Traver, La jurisdicción, 45 and subsequent pages.

63 The codified Customs of Girona stated that sentences would not be registered, by default, as arises from the sixth heading in Cobos Fajardo, Costums, 69.

64 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 23, fo. 125r (23.6.1343). Statements were made under oath – laying hands on the Gospels – and had full probative value.

65 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 4, fo. 74r (23.1.1329).

66 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 4, fo. 74r (23.1.1329).

67 For other glimpses of how medieval judges in Catalonia functioned, see Bensch, Stephen, Barcelona and its rulers, 1096–1291 (Cambridge, 1994), 74–80Google Scholar, and also Josep Maria Pons Guri, ‘Ordinacions i capítols del vescomtat de Cabrera (anys 1292–1520)’, in Pons Guri, Recull, vol. 1, 77–84.

68 On arbitration in medieval times, see Jeanclos, Yves, L'arbitrage en Bourgogne et en Champagne du XIIe au XVe siècle. Étude de l'influence du droit savant, de la coutume et de la pratique (Dijon, 1977)Google Scholar, See also Gauvard, Claude, ‘De grace especial’. Crime, état et societé en France à la fin du moyen âge (Paris, 1991)Google Scholar; Smith, Llinos Beverly, ‘Disputes and settlements in medieval Wales: the role of arbitration’, English Historical Review 106 (1991), 835–60Google Scholar; Offenstadt, Nicolas, ‘Intéraction et regulation des conflits: les gestes d'arbitrage et de la conciliation au Moyen Âge (XIII–XV siècles)’, in Jacob, R. and Gauvard, Claude eds., Les rites de justice: gestes et rituels judiciaires au moyen âge occidental (Paris, 2000), 201–28Google Scholar, and Klerman, ‘Settlement and the decline of private prosecution’.

69 Pons Guri, ‘Ordinacions’, 80.

70 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 4, fo. 81r (11.3.1329).

71 For a discussion of the distinctive powers conferred on ordinary judges and chatelains (seigniorial clerks, bailiffs), in late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century Savoy, see Nicolas Carrier, ‘Une justice pour rétablir la “concordie”. La justice de composition dans la Savoie de la fin du Moyen Age (fin XIIIe–début XVIe siècle)’, in Actes des congrès de la Société des historiens médiévistes de l'enseignement supérieur public (Paris, 2001), 241.

72 See Lalinde Abadía, La jurisdicción, 221.

73 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 24, fo. 68r–69r (9.12.1342).

74 See two claims, respectively, for 18 s. and 38 s.: AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 15, fo. 54v–55v (8.2.1339) and AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 15v–17r (12.2.1340).

75 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 113r–113v (4.12.1340).

76 AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 17, fo. 113v (4.12.1340).

77 We borrow here the expression of John S. Beckerman regarding the introduction of jury trial in medieval English manor courts. See Beckerman, John S., ‘Procedural innovation and institutional change in medieval English manorial courts’, Law and History Review 10, 2 (1992), 197–252Google Scholar, here 214.

78 For this point, see Firth, Raymond, ‘Capital, saving and credit in peasant societies: a viewpoint from economic anthropology’, in Firth, Raymond and Yamey, B. S. eds., Capital, saving and credit in peasant societies (London, 1964), 15–34Google Scholar.

79 See the early remarks about parallel negotiation in Giménez Soler, Andrés, El Poder judicial en la Corona de Aragón: memoria leída en la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona: los días 16 de Febrero y 2 de Marzo de 1901 (Barcelona, 1901), 18–19Google Scholar.

80 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 24, fo. 147v (21.4.1343).

81 See AHG, Caldes-Llagostera 23, fo. 97v (7.4.1343).

82 For the social stigma borne by those lenders of contemporary rural Sudan who exhibit too much intrusiveness, see Wilmington, Martin, ‘Aspects of money lending in Northern Sudan’, in Von Pischke, J. D., Adams, Dale W. and Donald, Gordon eds., Rural financial markets in developing countries (Baltimore and London, 1983), 258Google Scholar.