king's justice
Sovereign's legal authority
King's justice refers to the legal authority and punishment administered by or in the name of a monarch, as opposed to local lords or private vengeance.
In medieval and feudal contexts, it represented centralized royal courts superseding fragmented jurisdictions: The crime was serious enough to warrant the king's justice.
The phrase often carries connotations of harsh but legitimate punishment, particularly execution: He was sentenced to face the king's justice at dawn.
- feudalismLand-for-service social structure
- equityImpartial treatment or ownership value
- retributionPunishment for wrongdoing
- crownSovereign's ornamental headpiece
- monarchyRule by crowned sovereign
royal court · impartiality · punishment · royal decree · accountability · throne · gallows · jurisprudence · executioner · public execution · off with his head · Tower of London · vassalage · proclamation · medieval chronicles · serfdom · Arthurian legend · royal charters
king's justicemob justice
Extralegal punishment by crowds
vigilante justice · lynch law · blood feud · vendetta · frontier justice
king's justiceroyal pardon
Monarch's official forgiveness
clemency · mercy · pardon · amnesty · commutation
king, kings, kingly, kingship, kinghood, kingless, kinglike, kingdom, kingdoms