— Also termed pares curiae.
“The lord was, in early times, the legislator and judge over all his feudatories: and therefore the vassals of the inferior lords were bound by their fealty to attend their domestic courts baron, (which were instituted in every manor or barony, for doing speedy and effectual justice to all the tenants) in order as well to answer such complaints as might be alleged against themselves, as to form a jury or homage for the trial of their fellow-tenants; and upon this account, in all the feodal institutions both here and on the continent, they are distinguished by the appellation of the peers of the court; pares curtis, or pares curiae.” 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 54 (1766).
