When did the Ecclesiastical courts in England lose the authority to mete out punishments such as imprisonment and execution?

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Technically, the Suppression of Heresy Act 1400 (enacted 1401) - De Hæretico Comburendo - didn't grant the ecclesiastical courts in England the power to burn heretics. Anyone convicted of heresy was to be handed over to the secular power

... the sheriff of the county of the same place, and mayor and sheriffs, or sheriff, or mayor and bailiffs of the city, town, and borough of the same county ...

who would then carry out the sentence as laid down by the law.


The 1401 statute was repealed by the 1558 Act of Supremacy under Elizabeth I.


There is an article titled A Brief History of Medieval Roman Canon Law in England which you might also find interesting available on JSTOR.

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