England Overview of Church Courts - International Institute

The Church Hierarchy and Courts

Christianity arrived in England in the late 6th century and St. Augustine founded the first church in England at Canterbury in 1597. Since that time Canterbury has been the headquarters of the church, with the Archbishop of Canterbury its head. Britain was divided into three provinces- Armagh (Ireland), York (northern England, and Isle of Man), and Canterbury (England south of the River Trent, Channel Islands and Wales—which became its own province in 1920).

Each province had several dioceses headed by bishops, each diocese had several archdeaconries headed by archdeacons, often further subdivided into deaneries headed by rural deans. In the north the rural deans played a more prominent role in the running of the church and its affairs than in the south. Each archdeaconry and deanery comprised several parishes, headed by rectors, vicars or perpetual curates. A curate is an assistant to the rector, vicar or perpetual curate. The jurisdiction of a bishop (and sometimes an archbishop) is termed a see.

Types of Courts

There were four levels of courts, and a few others that fell partly or wholly outside this system:

The Pope and his Papal Curia (Court) were at the top in the Pre-Reformation hierarchy but he appointed papal judges delegate to act for him in England. During Henry VIII’s reign this final appellate court was transferred to the crown in the Curia Regis (King’s Court or Crown in Chancery).

The Provincial Courts of the provinces of Canterbury and York were presided over by archbishops. There were several types:

Prerogative or testamentary for probate.

Matrimonial for marriage causes.

Appeal Courts included the PCY Chancery Court and the PCC Court of Arches, and above them from 1559 the High Court of Delegates, succeeded in 1832 by the Judicial Committee of Privy Council.

Diocesan Courts of several types were presided over by the bishop.

Archidiaconal Courts were presided over by their archdeacon and were usually the courts of first instance, that is, the first court approached when some permission was required or a problem had arisen.

Deanery Courts, presided over by the rural dean, were more important in Northern England where there were sometimes no archdeaconries.

Hierarchy of Courts

If there were no difficulties then the archidiaconal (or deanery court if one existed) was the court of first instance; otherwise it was referred to a higher court (see below). The archidiaconal courts and some of the diocesan ones were so busy with sexual offences in the 17th and 18th centuries that they were referred to as the bawdy courts (Chapman 1997, 2003, Webb 1999).

Chart: Hierarchy of Church Courts

The parish a person lived in usually determined which court he went to. If the situation occurred within the area of one deanery it could be dealt with in the Deanery Court. If the issue affected more than one deanery but within one archdeaconry then it needed to be in the Archdeaconry Court. Deanery courts were used more in the province of York, and archdeaconries in Canterbury.

If it affected more than one archdeaconry in the same diocese, it would be resolved in the bishop’s Consistory court that covered the whole diocese. If the archdeaconry court was inhibited or vacant, (temporarily out of action), the bishop’s Commissary Court would function instead.

If the issue affected more than one diocese, it was sent to the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of that province, either York or Canterbury. If it concerned both provinces then Canterbury took precedence.

The advantages of an hierarchical system are obvious:

Minor local causes could be dealt with more efficiently and effectively and at less cost at the lower courts. Since they sat more frequently urgent causes could be dealt with quickly.

The diocesan and provincial courts were reserved for non-appellate causes such as probate and licences, and referrals of more serious causes such as heresy, and appeals from lower courts where the participants were not satisfied with the lower court’s conclusions.

Appeals could be made through a succession of higher courts.

Surrogates

Many of the presiding officers delegated their authority (commissioned it) to surrogates and it is their names that typically appear in the records, thus:

A vicar general deputized for an archbishop or bishop in administrative matters.

An official (or official principal) was responsible for judicial cases for an archbishop or bishop.

Archdeacons acted as commissioners for bishops.

Rural deans acted as surrogates for the archdeacons.

In addition there were the governing bodies of the cathedrals, Cathedral Chapters, presided over byDeans (sometimes working with their canons in chapter), which frequently retained considerable immunity from Episcopal jurisdiction and often had minor courts such as ecclesiastical peculiars or secular manorial courts. Records of cathedral chapters are called capitular records and may be found in their chapter act books. All courts charged fees for their services and these form part of the records now available.

Archidiaconal Courts

Dioceses have a variable number of archdeaconries—there was only one in Canterbury, Carlisle, Ely and Rochester, but up to eight elsewhere. The archdeacon assisted his bishop in his own group of parishes, hence he was termed oculus episcopi (the bishop’s eye). From the late 17th century archdeacons were more concerned with gathering information about the state of the church and of nonconformity, than with finding and correcting offenders.

Webb and Smith (Archdeacons’ Records #31 in Short Guides to Records edited by Kathryn M. Thompson. Historical Association. FS Catalog book 942 A3 v2 and film 0990062, 1997) have further details on the functions and records of archdeacons’ courts and a bibliography. Much original material is on microfilm, but not as many archidiaconal records have been indexed as diocesan ones. Examples:

Archdeaconry of London non-testamentary court books and papers 1562-1567 and 1683-1762 on six films beginning at FS Library Film 2068200.

Archdeaconry of London wills index 1700-1807 (date of the last probate) has been published by Webb (An Index of Wills Proved in the Archdeaconry Court of London 1700-1807. Society of Genealogists , 1996).

Diocesan Courts

There were 22 dioceses in England from the time of the Reformation until the mid-19th century plus four in Wales and the diocese of Sodor and Man covering the Isle of Man. There are now 42 in England and six in Wales and it should be emphasized that they mostly do not follow county boundaries, and not always contiguous areas. A diocese may comprise a city and area, part of a county, the whole of a county, parts of more than one county, or several counties. Chapman’s (Sin, Sex and Probate: Ecclesiastical Courts, Officials and Records. Lochin Publishing, Dursley, Gloucestershire, 1997) map gives an overall picture; find out from Humphery-Smith (The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers. Phillimore, Chichester, West Sussex, England, 1995) or Gibson which diocese your particular parish belonged to. Those in operation from 1541-1835, which mainly dealt with their immediate geographical areas, are given below .

Chart: English Dioceses 1541-1835

Bath and Wells	Exeter	Oxford
Bristol	Gloucester	Peterborough
Canterbury	Hereford	Rochester
Carlisle	Lichfield	Salisbury
Chester	Lincoln	Winchester
Chichester	London	Worcester
Durham	Norwich	York
Ely

A bishop could have many kinds of business conducted in his Audience, Commissary (for part of a diocese), Consistory (for the whole diocese), Episcopal, and Probate Courts, in addition to appeals from lower jurisdictions. Some of these courts ran together and were recorded in the same registers, and it is frequently difficult to decide which court was being convened for which causes.

It was normal for the bishop to commission (or delegate) responsibility as judge in these courts to surrogates called:

Vicar-General—for non-judicial duties such as granting licenses and dispensations.
Official Principal—a permanent appointee dealing with judicial matters.
Chancellor—one who combined the offices of Vicar-General and Official Principal
Official
Commissary
Auditor in Chancery Court of York
Commissary General—a permanent appointee
Dean in archbishops’ peculiars
Commissary, Master or Keeper in probate courts.

Other ecclesiastical court officials included:

Proctor with duties equivalent to today’s solicitor or common-law attorney.
Advocate who was similar to a counsel or barrister in common law courts.
Apparitor or Summoner who served notices, kept order and acted as diocesan watchdog.
Apparitor General supervised the apparitors.
Examiners questioned parties or their representatives.
Scribes wrote up the proceedings.
Registrar or Clerk took care of the records.
Secretary to a bishop or archbishop performed some court work.
Sealer or Seal Keeper formally sealed documents.
Record Keeper kept documents not in the care of a registrar.

Examples of published and microfilmed records:

Diocese of Canterbury (the archbishop’s diocese) marriage allegations 1568-1837 were indexed and published many years ago but are now available online. Several are on Internet Archives and FamilySearch Digital Library.

Consistory Court of Chester papers 1560-1653 are published with a brief summary of each case and appear on 36 films commencing FS Library film 1999544.

London Consistory Court Depositions 1586-1611 with lists and indexes of names, places, occupations and causes has been edited by Giese (London Consistory Court Depositions, 1586-1611: List and Indexes. London Record Society. FS Catalog book 942.1/L1 B4L v. 32). Items that can be followed up in the original depositions include:

Isabel Dartnole of St. James, Clerkenwell, Middlesex, aged 25, youngest, natural, maiden daughter of John Dartnole esquire was a witness in 1590 in a case of matrimonial cruelty [Margery Percye contra Christopher Percye her husband]

William Chewn of St. Alphage, City of London aged 49, merchant taylor, was a witness in 1593 in a defamation case [Marmaduke Butler and Margaret Durrant contra Roger Pepper].

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Court Records-Criminal, Civil and Ecclesiastical offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at wiki@genealogicalstudies.com

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The original content for this article was contributed by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies in June 2012. It is an excerpt from their course English: Court Records-Criminal, Civil and Ecclesiastical by Dr. Penelope Christensen. The Institute offers over 200 comprehensive genealogy courses for a fee ($).