COURTS-BARON. A baron whose land had been erected by the king in liberam baroniam, had a jurisdiction both civil and criminal, which he might exercise either in his own person or by his bailie. But this jurisdiction was, by the heritable jurisdiction act, 20 Geo. II. c. 43, reduced to the right of recovering from his vassals and tenants the feu-duties and rents of the land, and compelling them to perform the services which they may be bound to render, and to the right of deciding in civil questions where the debt or damage does not exceed forty shillings, beyond which his civil jurisdiction cannot be prorogated. The criminal jurisdiction is, by the same statute, limited to assaults, batteries, and smaller offences, which may be punished by a fine not exceeding twenty shillings, recoverable by poinding, or, in default of goods, commutable into one month's imprisonment at the utmost. But this jurisdiction has been subjected to so many regulations and restrictions, that it is seldom or never exercised by the baron.