In 1390 Courtenay protested against confirmation of the Statute of Provisors 1350, and in 1393 he was successful in slightly modifying the Statute of Praemunire 1392. Disliking the extravagance of Richard II, Courtenay publicly reproved the king; and, after an angry scene, the royal threats drove him for a time into Devon. In 1386, he was one of the commissioners appointed to reform the kingdom and the royal household, and in 1387 he arranged a peace between Richard and his enemies under Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester.