Pre 1858, the rules were complex (and tended to fade with time) - this is taken from the eminently clear guidance from Wiltshire Record Office, though the principles applied throughout the Provinces of York and Canterbury:
Wills before 1858 were generally proved in the church courts, of which there was a hierarchy extending from an individual parish up to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The ministers of some parishes had a right to prove the wills of those of their parishioners who had property solely in their parish – known as a peculiar jurisdiction. This could be ‘inhibited’ by the Dean or Bishop at certain times. The more important churches within the dioceses, and the cathedrals, often held their own courts. Courts of Dean and Chapters, and of the Prebends, of Cathedrals are numerous – their jurisdictions were over the places from which their revenues derived. In addition, Rural Deans supervised a group of parishes (normally not less than 12, and not including peculiars), and in some parts of the country had authority to prove wills within that area. A larger number of parishes was headed by an archdeacon, and there would be one or more archdeaconries in a diocese, headed by a Bishop. The archdeaconry courts would normally grant probate for persons with property in their area of jurisdiction. The bishop’s court (or consistory court) would grant probate for any person having property in more than one archdeaconry within the diocese. The dioceses in the south of England with the Channel Islands and Wales formed the Province of Canterbury, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury was the head. His Prerogative Court of Canterbury proved the wills of those with property in more than one diocese or peculiar in the Province. In the north of England the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of York acted in the same way for northern dioceses. Canterbury claimed overall jurisdiction in probate matters when persons had property in both Provinces or had died abroad. (However this did not always happen in practice.)
