Prerogative Court

An ecclesiastical court under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, principally responsible for proving wills and dealing with testamentary disputes within its jurisdiction. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it exercised jurisdiction over southern England, London, Wales, and many wills of people who had died overseas but owned property in Britain. Its probate jurisdiction was transferred to the Court of Probate in 1857, following the wider reorganisation of ecclesiastical courts.