The name given to certain secret tribunals which flourished in Germany from the end of the twelfth cen-tury to the middle of the sixteenth, usurping many of the functions of the governments which were too weak to maintain law and order, and inspiring dread in all who came within their jurisdictlon. Enc. Brit. Such a court existed in westphnlia (though wlth greatly diminished powers) until finally sup-pressed in 1811
Source: Black’s Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
