Vehmgerichte (also spelt Femgerichte, or simply Vehme, Fehme), dread tribunals in Germany during the middle ages, empowered by the emperor to try cases in which the penalty was death, and to execute the punishment on the guilty. They were doubtless based on ancient Germanic methods of tribal justice, though the tradition refers their institution to Charlemagne. It was in Westphalia they were especially powerful, and this is explained by the fact that, whereas in other German lands the ruling princes assumed to themselves all capital jurisdiction, in Westphalia there were for long no territorial potentates strong enough to take over the authorities originally peculiar to the emperor alone and those specially commissioned by him. The anarchical condition of Germany favoured the extension of the Vehmgerichte; and in the 14th century the solemnly initiated members of this tribunal, called Schöffen or Freischöffen, were found scattered all over Germany. Wherever he lived, the Schöffe could be tried capitally only by the Westphalian court; princes found it convenient to be initiated themselves and choose Schöffen for their advisers, and free cities aimed to have their councillors associates of this august body. Any free German born in wedlock might be admitted with solemn formalities, after taking an awful oath to be faithful to the duties and privileges of the order, on pain of an ignominious and specially painful death. The chief of the society, the Oberstuhlherr, was the emperor's representative, namely the Archbishop of Cologne as Duke of Westphalia. The Stuhlherr was the chief at any given Stuhl or seat of justice, of which the most famous was in the market-place of Dortmund. Officers or Freigrafen were named by the Stuhllherren. Any free man might attend the meetings, always held by daylight in the open air, unless the court specially resolved itself into a secret tribunal for the time being; and even then the number of members in important cases took away any real 'secrecy' from the trials. Thus eighteen Freigrafen and 800 Freischöffen took part in the trial of Duke Henry of Bavaria in 1434. The places and times of meeting were perfectly known to all who cared to know. The summons was not delivered personally but usually fastened to the door of the accused. The mode of trial—by accusation and pleading in defence—was the same as in other German courts; and for centuries the power of the Vehme seems to have been used for the best ends, with a full feeling of responsibility and love of justice. Torture was never had recourse to: the convicted prisoner was usually executed at once, or whenever he was found, by being hanged on the nearest tree, a dagger with the device of the society, the mysterious letters S.S.G.G. (whose meaning is unknown), being fixed beside the corpse to show by whose decree the man died. Gradually abuses crept in; the dread powers were used in personal feuds; and the minor princes became more and more jealous. Maximilian subjected the Vehme to very stringent regulations; already in the 16th century they were strictly confined to Westphalia, and gradually subordinated even there to the ordinary courts. They continued to exist, maintaining the ancient formalities, though now bereft of power and little better than a laughing-stock, till they were finally dissolved in 1811 by Jerome Bonaparte. The last Schöffe died in 1835.
There is an extensive literature on the subject, a series of monographs having corrected many picturesque but erroneous conceptions of the once so formidable secret tribunal. Amongst them are those by Berek (1814), Usener (1832), Essellen (1877), Wächter (1882), Lindner (1887), and Thudichum (1889). There is a graphic account of the Vehme in Immermann's Münchhausen; see also Scott's Anne of Geierstein and the introduction to the same. The etymology of the name in its various forms has been much debated, but is quite obscure.