The Judici de prohoms, a judicial institution of neighbourhood participation

Abstract

In the process of repopulation of New Catalonia mid-twelfth century, from the granting of the Town Charter of Tortosa in 1149, the monarch granted privileges and institutionalizes collaboration and participation of the neighbors (the most prominent) or possibly their representatives in the work of administration of justice by the royal judge. But that initial collaboration responds above all to the ultimate objective of ensuring the proper judicial action, evolves and developes until the emergence of what we call the “judici de prohoms” in Leida, an institution which involves in a greater way the neighborhood in the Curia or royal court, especially in the criminal jurisdiction, extending its practice in the Mediterranean territories of the Crown of Aragon.