King's ban

Königsbann, literally king's ban (, more rarely bannum, from the OHG: ban), was the exercise of royal jurisdiction in the Holy Roman Empire.

A specific ban (German: Bann) identified:
 * the actual order or prohibition
 * the penalties for contravening the ban
 * the region to which the ban applied

The king's ban in the legal history of the Holy Roman Empire was divided into several distinct types depending on their function:
 * Heerbann, the right to raise an army,
 * Blutbann (blood courts; high jurisdiction which included capital punishment),
 * Friedensbann (special royal protection of people and property),
 * Verordnungsbann (the authority to decide legal standards) and
 * Verwaltungsbann (the force to be used).

The king used a so-called Bannleihe ("ban investiture") to transfer (invest) the ban, especially the Blutbann, to counts or advocates to exercise.

Literature

 * Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch, I 1967, Sp. 1341 - 1348 s.v. bannus
 * Heinrich Mitteis; Heinz Lieberich, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte. Ein Studienbuch. Munich, 1974 u.ö.