What happened if monks and nuns broke the law in medieval times?

Answer 1

Since monks and nuns were clergy (part of the Church hierarchy) they could not be tried in an ordinary civil court under the king's law. They were subject only to Canon Law, dispensed by bishops who could not impose the death penalty.

Punishments might include harsh beatings, transfer to a remote convent or monastery, seclusion and isolation from their own communities, or in severe cases expulsion into ordinary life outside the convent or monastery.

In many cases the offender was punished by his/her own head of community (Mother Abbess or Father Abbot) without the case ever going before a bishop. Many monasteries had punishment cells where offenders would be kept apart from their brothers/sisters until it was believed they had repented of their sins and promised to mend their ways. Prayers would be offered in their support and every effort was made to accept them back into the claustral life.