The Court of Arches is an ecclesiastical court of the Church of England covering the province of Canterbury. Until 1857, the court exercised a wide-ranging jurisdiction over marriage, probate and testamentary disputes, defamation, church property, and the morals of the church and laity. Its records, many of which contain information of interest for tracing the lives of our ancestors, are now held by Lambeth Palace Library in South London. James North, the library’s archives assistant, shared with us one such set of records from a fascinating matrimonial dispute, which sheds light on the difficulties of legally
