Assize Court Records: Difference between revisions

From the thirteenth century onwards, judges appointed by the king or queen of England were sent (usually in pairs) on circuits to administer both civil and criminal law. Originally their function was in civil litigation, the periodic regulation and examination of the quality, weights, measure and prices of certain products offered for sale, notably ale, bread and cloth. They were to control local justice in criminal cases, since they administered the law more accurately than the local justices, being more susceptible to royal authority than the local justices of the peace sitting in quarter sessions. They were also charged with reporting the political feeling of the area they served. By the fifteenth century, the criminal side dominated the business of the assize sessions. Any case could be heard but (after 1590) the more serious cases were sent to assize, as well as those dealing with the finer points of the law. Criminal transportation sentences to the American colonies, for example, were usually issued by assize courts (or their equivalents in Greater London). In 1971 the assize circuits were abolished and replaced by the Crown Courts.  

=== Availability  ===

The absence of continuity and the decentralization of the itinerant court reflected in the compilation and custody of its records. As early as 1325, it was necessary to order that the rolls of the circuit judges be submitted to the Exchequer. Ten years later, it was law to surrender the records of each Michaelmas Term. Strict observance of these laws is doubtful. In the fifteenth century, it appeared that circuit records were handed from one presiding judge of the circuit to the next judge. However, gaol delivery records are numerous in the fourteenth and some of the fifteenth century. But in 1470, the records cease. It appears that the circuit rolls remained in the custody of the clerks of assize, and their survival became hazardous. Many clerks seemed to have adopted a radical solution: circuit records should be retained no longer than was required for current business. Most of the Midland Circuit records have virtually been exterminated. Almost all of the Elizabethan assize records for all circuits have been destroyed by accident and clerical weeding, except for the Home Circuit. There are not enough extant records between 1600‑1650 to give a clear idea of the working of assizes. Even after that date, when indictment files and related documents begin in series, all classes are broken or riddled with gaps.  

*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=156 “Assizes: English: Key for Criminal Trials, 1559-1971”]. London: The National Archives, 2004. Legal Records Information no. 14.<br>

*Bevan, Amanda and Andrea Duncan, ''Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office''. Fourth Edition. London, England: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1990.&nbsp; FHL&nbsp;book 942 A5p, no. 19, 1990.&nbsp; See Chapter 38, Sections 1, 3 and 4.  

*FitzHugh, Terrick V.H., ''The Dictionary of Genealogy''.&nbsp; Third Edition.&nbsp; Totowa, New Jersey, USA: Barnes and Noble, 1991. FHL&nbsp;book 942 B2ff; see pages 40‑41, 118, 208 and 215.  

*Hawkings, David T., ''Crimi''<span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1239138738194_874" />''nal Ancestors: A Guide to Historical Criminal Records in England and Wales''.&nbsp; Wolfeboro Falls, New Hampshire, USA, Alan Sutton Publishing, Incorporated, 1992.&nbsp; FHL&nbsp;book 942 P27h; pages 77‑90; the chapter includes many examples.