ARCHDEACON'S COURT is the lowest court in the ecclesiastical polity. It is held, in the archdeacon's absence, before a judge appointed by himself, and called his official; and its jurisdiction is sometimes in concurrence with, sometimes in exclusion of, the bishop's court of the diocese. But, by statute 24th Henry VIII., c. 12, there lies an appeal from this court to that of the bishop. By the act of Will. IV., above cited, it is now, however, enacted that all archdeacons throughout England and Wales shall enjoy full and equal jurisdiction within their several archdeaconries.