Although Durham was a town dominated by its religious communities, in the same way as its more secular counterparts it was equally in need of firm government and even-handed justice to restrain the excesses of its citizens and to arbitrate in their disputes. Late-medieval Durham never experienced civil unrest as severe as the rioting at, for example, Coventry or Beverley; nor did the legal battles between the town and its ecclesiastical overlords ever reach the proportions they did in Bury St Edmunds, Norwich or York. Nonetheless, the whole structure of town life was shaped by regulations or restraints on townsmen and outsiders; and at some stage in their lives it is probable that almost all of the inhabitants had to appear before one of the many courts operating in medieval Durham. The administration of the law touched most aspects of a townsman's life, public or private, and it was enforced rigorously and persistently by the town's overlords.

Medieval urban society was permeated with this concern to uphold law and order, for three main reasons. First, and most obviously, there was a need to maintain peace between individuals or groups wherever there was a concentration of people living and working together. A town depended for its life on its work-force, its industries and its trade; internal troubles could lead to the collapse of industries, the discouragement of outside traders and a reluctant work-force.