King Rupert in 1404 allegedly revises the code of the League of the Holy Court (Vehmgericht, or just the Vehm), the Westphalian system of secret courts that now obtains throughout the disintegrating Holy Roman Empire.

The principal seat is in Dortmund; their sittings are only sometimes secret, and their meeting-places are always well known.

Traditionally founded in the year 772 by Charlemagne, the members of the Vehmic courts are called francs-juges or Freischöffen ("Free Judges").

The Vehm had taken cognizance of all crimes in the lawless period of the Middle Ages, and those condemned by the tribunal were made away with by some secret means, but no one knew by what hand.

Being dispatched, the dead body was hung on a tree to advertise the fact and deter others.