Cort de Antics

The Cort de Antics (Æng: Ancients' Court) is a Levantine Union court responsible for adjudicating competing noble claims as well as claims between pretenders and the states of the Union. It is considered the final arbiter of peerage law within the Levantine Union and is widely considered to be the world's most respected peerage court.

Function
The Cort de Antics has become the highest court of peerage law in the Levantine Union. Since its establishment, it has taken on appellate jurisdiction for cases related to heritage and ancestry throughout the Union.

The Cort's functions rely in large part on the legal authority given to it through the Empire-in-fact.

Central Cort
The Central Cort is the institution most recognizable within the Cort; it is the judicial apparatus itself with nine judges who determine and adjudicate claims between families and claimants. The number of members of the Cort and the individuals who sit upon it serve at the pleasure of the member states of the Levantine Union, who each receive one appointment.

Familial Registry
The Familial Registry of the Cort de Antics is the world's largest depository of ancestral and feudal records and related information. Initially established as a small part of the Cort to help independently verify the claims it adjudicated, by 1960 it had begun to retain large amounts of information and was split off from the main Cort as its first separate administrative body, answerable to the Cort's members. By personnel and physical footprint, it is by far the largest part of the Cort.

Armort College
The Armory College of the Cort de Antics is the Levantine Union's largest, responsible for maintaining records on the proper descent and use of arms. Within the Cort, it is responsible for providing information to the Central Cort for the adjudication of competing claims of succession and heraldry. Since the dissolution of the Holy Levantine Empire, it has become the primary authority for the issuance of arms, a role it does through the legal authority of the Empire-in-fact. In addition to its responsibility as record keeper and issuer of arms, the Arms Registry provides both interpretive services on all arms it oversees. As part of its responsibility to manage arms, all copyright related materials that employ a true set of arms (i.e. one actually in use by a person or title) must receive written permission from the Registry to do so, though most governments and many large private entities have pre-approvals from the Registry. Failure to comply with "proper use" of Arms creates liability by the party using them, and the College has the power to initiate lawsuits to protect the use of arms as.

The College originated in the central heraldry college of the Holy Levantine Empire, known as the Collegium Heraldium. The Heraldium is attested to from the mid-1450s but likely gained a full charter by 1500. From then, it worked in Corcra on behalf of the Emperor of the Levantines to regulate heraldic devices and create new devices for the Emperor to grant. In 1930, it relocated its archive and operations from Corcra to Urceopolis in order to prevent a loss of documentation and records as war loomed on the horizon. The Heraldium remained in Urceopolis following the effective dissolution of the Empire but continued operations in a limited capacity. With the establishment of the Cort in 19XX, Emperor Patrick IV dissolved the Heraldium and transferred its assets, personnel, and responsibility to the new Cort, which established the Armory College as the Heraldium's official successor. The transfer ceremony, held on 14 August 1955, is notable as one of the most recent non-coronation official public functions exercised by an Emperor of the Levantines as part of his Empire-in-fact responsibilities.

Changes in the 2020s
The dissolution of the Deric States significantly altered the number of judges on the Cort.