A papal judge delegate was a type of judicial appointment created during the 12th century by the medieval papacy where the pope would designate a local judge, often an ecclesiastic, to decide a case that had been appealed to the papal court. Papal documents referred to the delegates as iudices delegati. A further development was the grant of exemptions from appointment as judge-delegate, with such exemptions first appearing around 1140. By the end of the 12th century, such exemptions were sought after by local ecclesiastics.