England Court Records: Difference between revisions

''[[England Genealogy|England]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go to]] [[England_Court_Records|Court Records]]''  

Most researchers use court records after they have investigated other records. Court records tend to be difficult to use since few are indexed, the handwriting is hard to read, and they include unfamiliar legal terms. To interpret court records, you may need to consult a dictionary.  

'''Chart: Survival of Manorial Documents (data from Travers)'''  

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! scope="col" | Surviving manorial documents  

'''Chart: Format of a Court Roll or Record'''<br>There is some variation in the order of items after the first two.  

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| Name of manor, lord and steward.<br>Place and date of court.<br>Essoins (excuses).<br>List of homage (jury) of 12 or more men.<br>Appointment of officers.<br>Presentments.  

These are public documents which are not closed, having their great seals appended (for example dangling by a strip of ribbon or vellum at the bottom). Patent Rolls date from 3 John to 9 George VI, and are the longest unbroken set of archives extant in the world, over 740 years! They deal with national affairs such as treaties; grants and confirmations of liberties, offices, privileges, lands and wardships to private persons and public bodies; charters of incorporation; licences for the election of bishops; and creations of nobility (Fitzhugh). In addition, denization was recorded on the patent rolls prior to 1844. Patent Rolls are at TNA in class C 66. An example from patent rolls follows:  

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| '''Patent Rolls 2 Dec 1301''' [from Peen]<br>Complaint by John de Bello Compo about 30 named men who cut his corn at night at Chepstode, Surrey while he was away in Scotland on the King’s Service and carried it away. They also took and drove 200 sheep from his fold and took two of his servants and imprisoned them <br>

The records from 5 Richard I to 56 Henry III, that is 1194-1272, are at TNA in class KB 26. Plaintiffs often submitted their pedigrees to the court in order to establish their right as free subjects to plead. An introduction to the ''curia regis rolls'' 1199-1230 was written by Flower (''Introduction to the Curia Regis Rolls'' ''1199-1230 AD''. Selden Society volume 62. {{FHL|599447|item|disp=FHL film 1414824}}, who transcribed and indexed many of them—two examples are shown in the reference section. All sorts and conditions of men, and women, appear in these rolls as they were caught in the meshes of the law.  

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| ''A certain Richard who lost money playing dice with Henry II and had to mortgage his manor in Northamptonshire to pay him. ''<br>

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| ''The defendant in a case of an alleged stolen mare claimed he was given it and some pigs in exchange for teaching him fencing.''

Some examples of cases from King’s Bench include:  

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| ''The Selden Society has published a translation of select cases in the court of King’s Bench 1290-1300 in their volumes 55, 57 and 58 {{FHL|601163|item|disp=FHL film 1414823}} and volume 88 contains selected cases 1377-1422'' {{FHL|674302|item|disp=FHL book 942 p3ss v.80}}.

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| ''Titford has details of Burrow’s rare book on settlement cases at King’s Bench 1732-1776, with many examples.''

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| ''A Richard Jupp was challenged as a juror in the trial of William Stone for High Treason at King’s Bench in January 1796 as he was not a freeholder. (From Thomson Gale website).''

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| ''Newspapers reported the activities of the court with a great deal of relish, for example in The Times 26 Feb 1816 there is a long report of a smuggling case (The King v. Jupp) that took place near Brighthelmstone (now Brighton), Sussex involving 500 half ankers of spirits!''

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| ''Dodgy horse-trading in Clapham came before King’s Bench in 1817 - this case is described in East Surrey FHS Journal vol 25 #1, page xv.''

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| ''A nice example of a case heard at King’s Bench for grave robbery in 1828 in Yarmouth is given in Family Tree Magazine volume 8 #9, page 8.''

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| ''Another Queen’s Bench case reported in The Times in Nov 1841 and Jan 1842 concerns a libel suit against Thomas Topping, publisher of The Hull Packet for some nasty remarks about his local magistrates!''

Images of the original Common Pleas Plea Rolls from 1272-1650 are available for free online at [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/IndexPri.html Anglo-American Legal Tradition] (CP 40).  

===== Example  =====

'''Chart: Newspaper Report of Case at Court of Common Pleas 1823<br>The Times 28 Jun 1823 (pg 6, issue 11910, col D)'''<br>  

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| One of my (thankfully distant) relatives appeared at the '''''Court of Common Pleas''''' on 27 Jun 1823 in the case of ''Dashwood (clerk) v. Garnham''. Mr. Dashwood, a Church of England clergyman from Suffolk, was the plaintiff and the defendant was a shopkeeper at Beccles, who was sued for damages for malicious arrest. The report begins by explaining how Mr Dashwood confiscated his wife’s private income, then gave her an allowance which had not been paid for three years.<br>It appeared that Mr Dashwood ''was a man of a very strange and parsimonious disposition, and in the beginning of 1819 he forbade the defendant to give his wife credit. He and his wife did not separate, however, and are still living together, but not on the most agreeable terms. She was in the habit of dealing at the defendant’s shop, and between December 1819 and December 1821 she purchased various articles of dress for herself and her daughter (the latter a young lady of eighteen) which amounted to £54. Mrs Dashwood having no means of paying this, in consequence of the stoppage of her annual allowance, the defendant sent his bill to the plaintiff, who declined paying it.''<br>The defendant sued out a writ against him and Mr Dashwood was put in gaol for two hours, the time it took to procure bail. This information was collected from Mr Dashwood’s own brother-in-law, Mr Farre, who stated that ''he was a disgrace to his family''. After further details, ''the jury, without hesitation, found'' ''a verdict for the defendant''.<br>Annoyingly, ''The Times'' does not give first names anywhere in the article, and the Norfolk branch of the Dashwoods has several clergymen. From other studies I know this is Rev Jarrett Dashwood who married Harriott Burton in 1802. They had three sons and a daughter, Harriet born 1804, and both parents died in Beccles in the 1850s. Such fascinating material for a life-history! <br>

'''Chart: Some Cases in Star Chamber'''  

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! scope="col" | Parties<br>  

*The palatinates of Chester, Durham and Lancaster which heard equity cases within their territories and sat locally.

*The Duchy of Lancaster which dealt with all matters within the royal duchy of Lancaster, which comprised estates in Lancashire and in most other counties, and sat in Westminster.

===== '''Lincoln’s Inn, London&nbsp;'''  =====

*''The Records of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn; vol. 1 from 1420 to 1799, vol. II admissions from 1800 to 1893 and chapel registers''. London: Lincoln’s Inn, 1896-1902. (FHL film numbers {{FHL|118002|title-id|disp=845175 and 845176}}.)

'''Chart: Kent Sheriff’s Cravings for Gibbeting a Smuggler 1749<br>(TNA T 64/262)'''  

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! scope="col" | Item<br>