In English ecclesiastical law. A court of appeal belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Judge of which is called the “Dean of the Arches,” because hls court was anciently held in the church of Saint Mary-le-Bow, (Soncta Maria de Aren bus,) so named from the steeple, which is raised upon pillars built archwise. The court was until recently held in the hall . belonging to the College of Civilians, com-monly called “Doctors’ Commons.” It is now held in Westminster Hall Its proper Jurls-dictlon is only over the thirteen peculiar parishes belonging to the archbishop iu London, but, the office of Dean of the Arches having been for a long time united with that of the archbishop’s priucip'ol official, the Judge of the Arches, in right of such added office, it receives and determiues appeals from the sentences of all inferior ecclesiastical courts within the province. 3 Bl. Coium. 64
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
