Palatinus (plural: Palatini), Latin for "palatial", were designations for various ecclesiastical offices in the Catholic Church, primarily of certain high officials in the papal court.
These judices palatini were These various offices developed from the end of the fourth century, with the formation of the papal household.
Their functions covered the whole central administration of the papacy, both at Rome and in the outlying possessions (patrimonia) of the Roman Church.
The judices palatini were also employed as papal envoys; they also had definite duties in the solemn processions and other great church ceremonies at which the pope was present in person.
Their authority continued down until the middle of the eleventh century, when the reforms of the papal administration, inaugurated after the troubles of the tenth century, placed the Cardinals in that position at the Roman curia, which the judices palatini had previously occupied, and the latter gradually disappeared.