England Court Records: Difference between revisions

| link1=[[England Genealogy|England]]

|[[Image:250px-Royal courts of justice London.jpg|right|thumb|250x200px|<center>Royal Courts Of Justice London<center>]]

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*'''1836-1889''' [https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-20411/england-middlesex-westminster-sessions-of-the-peace?s=275764761 England, Middlesex and Westminster Sessions of the Peace] at MyHeritage — index ($)

*Emmison, F. G., and Irvine Gray. ''County Records''. Revised Edition. London, England: The Historical Association, 1973. (FS Library book {{FSC|210071|title-id|disp=942 H2ha no. 62 1973}}.)  

*Emmison, F. G and Irvine Gray. ''County records: Quarter Sessions, Petty Sessions, Clerk of the Peace and Lieutenancy.'' London: Historical Association, 1987. In series "Helps for the Student of History", no. 62. (FamilySearch Library {{FSC|1026510|title-id|disp=942 H2ha no. 62 1987}})<br>

*Gibson, J. S. W. ''Quarter Session Records for Family Historians: A Select List''. 4th ed. Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies Publications, Ltd., 1995. (FS Library book {{FSC|560274|title-id|disp=942 P23gjs 1995}}).

The original records are in the respective county or council archives. Copies of some quarter session records are in the FamilySearch Library. Use the Place Search of the [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog FamilySearch Catalog] under:  

[[England, Kent, Quarter Sessions and Court Files - FamilySearch Historical Records|England, Kent, Quarter Sessions and Court Files - FamilySearch Historical Records]]  

{{Main|England Borough Session Records|England Borough Session Records}}

To find the name of the manor, or if there was a manor for the locality where your ancestor lived, use a gazetteer such as ''The Imperial Gazetteer'' on [https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp Vision of Britain] (see also the [[England Gazetteers|England Gazetteers]] article).  

Manorial court records in England can be found in many different repositories. For more information on the location of manor records in the following counties, consult the [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/manor-search Manorial Documents Register]:  

! scope="col" | % of manors

This was obligatory and dealt with transference of copyhold land, enforcing local customs and agricultural practice and settling minor disputes and debts involving less than 40 shillings. It was held by the lord of the manor or his legally-trained steward at least once a year or as often as its business demanded. The court baron often included the old ''court customary'' of the bond or villein tenants, and there were other minor courts in some places. The records of courts baron which deal with inheritance, sale and transfer of land are discussed in the International Institute of Genealogical Studies course ''English: Land and Property Records Including Manorial Documents and Maps.'' Other court baron records are covered here.  

#Custom breach and variation.<ref>Christensen, Penelope. "England Finding and Using Manor Court Records - International Institute, " ''The International Institute of Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Finding_and_Using_Manor_Court_Records_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>

A precept, or announcement of a forthcoming manor court is shown below, the format of a court roll or record and a transcription of a whole court beneath that.<br> <br> '''Precept for a Manor Court'''<ref>Christensen, Penelope. "England Manor Courts - International Institute, " ''The International Institute of Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Manor_Courts_%28National_Institute%29.</ref> 

[[Image:Announcement Notice of Manor Court.jpg|400px|thumb|<center>Announcement Notice of Manor Court</center>]]

The FamilySearch Library has some manorial court records. To find the records that are in the library, look in the Place Search of the [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog FamilySearch Catalog] under :  

*Park, Peter B. ''My Ancestors Were Manorial Tenants: How Can I Find Out More About Them?'' London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1994. (FS Library book {{FSC|682381|title-id|disp=942 D27pp}}.)  

*Ellis, Mary. ''Using Manorial Records.'' London, England: PRO Publications in association with The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1994. (FS Library book {{FSC|823863|title-id|disp=942 J77e}}.)  

*Cheyney, E.P, translator. [https://archive.org/details/englishmanoriald00chey "English Manorial Documents,"] ''Translations and Reprints from the original Sources of European History''. Vol. 3 no. 5, pp. 3-32. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1907. <br>

*www.ancestry.com ($) [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1590 England &amp; Wales Criminal Registers, 1791-1892] (Quarter Sessions &amp; Assize Courts).

These are the records of transactions in parliament down to 1886.<ref>Christensen, Penelope. "England Chancery Office Records and Revenue Courts - International Institute, " ''The International Institute of Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Chancery_Office_Records_and_Revenue_Courts_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

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. {{FSC|599447|item|disp=FS Library 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.  

Experts have created modern indexes for the years [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/Indices/CP40Indices/CP40_Indices.html 1530, 1535, 1540, 1545, 1550, and 1555]. (last checked 8/15/2014)

| ''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 {{FSC|601163|item|disp=FS Library film 1414823}} and volume 88 contains selected cases 1377-1422'' {{FSC|674302|item|disp=FS Catalog book 942 p3ss v.80}}.

The ''court of common pleas;'' also known as the ''court of common bench'', was one of the three courts of common law. It developed from the 12^th century as a subdivision of the ''curia regis'' (king’s court), remaining in London while the king and his ''curia regis'' travelled around the country. It sat in a certain spot in Westminster Hall and decided controversies concerning civil cases between the king’s subjects, cases involving claims to land, trespass and debt. It was the busiest of the common law courts in the Middle Ages and its earlier records are called the ''de banco'' rolls after the bench of judges. The later records are called ''common rolls'' and all are in TNA in class CP. There does not seem to be much on film, except some translated and published Northumbrian ones 1273-1280 on {{FSC|274206|item|disp=FS Library fiche 6073440-1(4)}}. Below you can see how detailed the newspaper reports can be.  

| Municipal and abbatial franchise<ref>Christensen, Penelope. "England Common Law Appellate Courts - International Institute, " ''The International Institute of Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Common_Law_Appellate_Courts_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>

The exchequer was a financial institution, its name taken from the chequered cloth (like a chess board) laid on the table to assist in counting money and calculating the amount of tax due to the crown. The ''lower exchequer'' dealt with accounts payable and receivable. The ''upper exchequer'' managed the royal revenue, audited the accounts and dealt with disputes, thus having a judicial role as well as a financial one. The exchequer administered the king’s finances throughout the Middle Ages, but from the 16^th century the ''treasury'' began to take over this role. By 1883 the exchequer had no financial functions left but did continue its judicial ones until the 1870s.<ref>Christensen, Penelope. "England Chancery Office Records and Revenue Courts - International Institute, " ''The International Institute of Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Chancery_Office_Records_and_Revenue_Courts_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

The National Archives houses the records from the Court of the Exchequer for people who lived in England and Wales. The FamilySearch Library has a film copy of an index to 127,628 Exchequer depositions between 1559 and 1695 ({{FSC|651788|title-id|disp=FS Library film 104399 Items 3-6}}).  

Lay subsidies, a medieval and early modern form of taxation, were kept by the Exchequer. The National Archives in England published [https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/taxation-before-1689/ "Taxation Records Before 1689"]. It includes a link to an inventory of E179 records, explaining what tax lists are available, by place and year, throughout the realm. Many of these tax lists are available on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library: {{FSC|988765|item|disp=film 2228633 (1st of 117 films)}}.  

Further information on pipe rolls can be found in Crook (''Pipe Rolls.'' #38 in Short Guides to Records edited by Kathryn M. Thompson. Historical Association, London. GSU {{FSC|424409|item|disp=FS Catalog book 942 A3t v2}}. and on {{FSC|424409|item|disp=FS Library film 0990062}}) and in the TNA research guide D31.  

Indexes include Sherwood’s (''Exchequer Depositions... Index to Calendar of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records [1877-1879'']. Holograph. {{FSC|244186|item|disp=FS Catalog book 942 P2ash}}) manuscript ones to the TNA calendars, for example volumes 1-2 cover 1559-1688.  

Details about the court of wards and liveries can be found in TNA research guide L11 and in Hawkins (1969). As an example, at Essex Archives Online there is a 1641 "grant of wardship and marriage of Michael Heneage, son and heir of Thomas Heneage esq to Dame Bridget Lyddal widow of Battersea, Surrey giving details of his property in Essex."<ref>Christensen, Penelope. "England Chancery Office Records and Revenue Courts - International Institute, " ''The International Institute of Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Chancery_Office_Records_and_Revenue_Courts_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

=== Other court records are:  ===

===== The Middle Temple, London =====

''' '''“Although no exact date can be given, it is believed that the Middle Temple and the remaining three Inns of Court were established by the middle of the 14th Century. The Inn's name derives from the Knights Templar who were in the possession of the Temple site for some 150 years. The origins of the Inn can be traced from two roots: the occupation of the Knights Templar and the replacement of the priestly lawyers by a lay profession.”  

*Sturgess, H. A. C. ''Register of admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, from the fifteenth century to the year 1944''. 3 volumes. London: Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, 1949. Volume 1, 1501-1781; volume 2, 1782-1909; volume 3, 1910-1944. (FS Library book number {{FSC|117950|title-id|disp=942.1/L1 C4st vol. 1-3}}; film numbers {{FSC|117950|title-id|disp=873850 vol.1-2}} and {{FSC|117950|title-id|disp=873851 vol. 3}}.)

Source: [http://www.middletemple.org.uk/ Middle Temple]

===== Lincoln’s Inn, London =====

[[Image:Lincoln's Inn. London.jpg|thumb|right|298x190px|<center>Lincoln's Inn, London<center>]]The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is said to take its name from Henry de Lacy, third Earl of Lincoln, who died in 1311. His own great house was adjacent and he is credited with being the Society's patron. Although the other three Inns of Court are of comparable antiquity, having evolved from uncertain origins in the fourteenth century, Lincoln's Inn can claim the oldest extant records, the Black Books, which record its principal activities from 1422 to this day.<br>  

*''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. (FS Library film numbers {{FSC|118002|title-id|disp=845175 and 845176}}.)

===== Gray’s Inn, London =====

*Foster, J. ''The Register of Admissions to Gray’s Inn 1521-1889 together with the marriages in Gray’s Inn Chapel 1695-1754''. London: Hansard Publishing Union, 1889. (FS Library book number {{FSC|285696|title-id|disp=942.1/G1 K29f}}; also on film {{FSC|285696|title-id|disp=844906, item 1}}; another film copy {{FSC|285696|title-id|disp=1696584, item 3}}.)

===== The Inner Temple, London =====

*''Students admitted to the Inner Temple 1547-1660.'' London: Inner Temple, 1877. The registers for the later years are only available at the Inner Temple. The FS Library does not have a copy of this book.<br>

===== Inns of Chancery =====

Source: Holdsworth, Sir William, ''A History of English Law'', 3 volumes. (London: Methuen &amp; Co., Ltd., Sweet and Maxwell). Vol. 2, p. 498.(FS Library book number {{FSC|386098|title-id|disp=942 P3h}}. BYU Howard W. Hunter Law Library book'''KD 532 .H6 1936-''' 17 volumes.)  

<ref name="chris">Christensen, Penelope. "England Types of Civil Courts - International Institute, " ''The International Institute of Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Types_of_Civil_Courts_%28National_Institute%29.</ref> <br>