England Special Civil Courts (National Institute)

Courts of Commissioners of Sewers
These were established by 1531, not for sanitary management of effluents, but with jurisdiction over sea defences, navigation of rivers in specified areas and similar matters. They were not formally abolished until 1930 and Owen (Records of Commissions of Sewers. #15 in Short Guides to Records edited by Lionel M. Munby. Historical Association. FHL book 942 A3 v2 and ) describes their records.

Court of Gaol Delivery
This was a judicial hearing of the charges against all prisoners awaiting trial in an area’s prisons.A commission of gaol delivery, dating from 1299, was an instruction to the sheriff to bring indicted prisoners held in gaol to trial. Itinerant judges appointed by the crown tried them and delivered them (set them free) if they were found innocent. The records are at TNA in JUST 3 and PL 25 and some are at FHL, for example:


 * Sussex 1716-1815 on 34 films starting at.
 * Canterbury 1751-1759 transcript on.
 * Devon 1354-1412 transcript by Howard.

Court of Orphans
The cities of London, Bristol and Exeter had special courts to administer the goods of orphans of freemen within their walls. The court of orphans was presided over by the common sergeant, thus inventories and other records are found in the common sergeants book. The City of London’s records at Guildhall include over 2,000 orphans’ inventories from 1662-1742 and 1764-1774 with indexes, as well as further records dating back to 1586.

Bristol’s court of orphans’ records 1333-1700 can be found on and. Those from Exeter from 1561-1774 escaped the WWII bombing and are at the Devon Record Office.

Court of Requests 1485-1642
Petitions by poor persons, formerly heard by Justices in Eyre in the Middle Ages and then by the Court of Chancery, were transferred in 1390 to a committee known as the court of requests. It was a cheap and simple procedure intended as a court for the poor and for women, but was much used by the royal household and eventually heard complaints from all sorts of people. The proceedings of the court of requests are written in English and are at TNA in REQ 1-4.

The court of requests used chancery procedure, also known as English bill procedure, a description of which can be found under the section on Chancery. The only difference was that the initial petition went to the king and his council rather than to the chancellor. There are good indexes to parties, places and subjects up until 1603 in Lists and Indexes Vol 21. After that the indexes (in Supplementary Lists and Indexes 7 (4 Volumes) are patchy until the court’s demise in 1642. TNA research guide L4 provides further details.

The court of requests was superseded by the county courts and what are now known as the small claims courts.

Fire Court
The London fire court was set up after the Great Fire to deal with disputes arising between tenants and landlords. During the period 1666-1668 it dealt with 437 cases relating to over 600 sites and the records sometimes include several-generation pedigrees of the landlords or tenants. Philip Jones has edited the proceedings and provided indexes to person, places and subjects.

Forest Courts
Mediaeval forests might be lightly wooded or covered with moors, heaths and fens, rather than densely wooded, as the area was used to provide vert (vegetation for cover and food for animals) and venison (all livestock, not just deer) for the king’s larder. The four verderers (forest managers) for each forest met as a court every 40 days to hear and punish minor offences such as shooting of deer out of season, or removal of vegetation and wood. The court had various names at different times and places—woodmote, swainmote forest mote or court of attachment. The records for the court of attachment for Epping (or Waltham) Forest 1713-1832 are on film 1751698.

Appeals from the forest courts are in the Chancery Forest Proceedings (C 99 at TNA) and here one finds ordinary people demanding their rights, with names of verderers, regarders, reeves, jurors and four men from each of the villages in the particular forest involved, as well as offenders against the forest laws.

Guild Courts
These are the governing bodies of trade guilds and livery companies comprised of assistants. Guild court minutes show the administration of the guild, and provide leads to other guild records mentioning all the members and their activities. The Guildhall Library publication lists surviving guild court minutes for the London companies, and they have a good downloadable leaflet. Others can be sought from relevant borough and county archives. Some of the company records are on film, for example those of the Carmen’s Company 1666-1942 on 7 films starting at ; and the Pewterers’ Company 1451-1934 on 31 films starting at.

High Court of Admiralty
The court having jurisdiction for offences committed on the high seas and cases involving maritime questions and foreign merchants These included shipwrecks and salvage, cargo, ship charters, collisions, slave trade, prize money for the capture of enemy ships, and seamen’s wage claims. However cases involving piracy and murder were heard at the Admiralty Sessions at the Old Bailey. The High Court of Admiralty records commence in 1361 and contain the names of many merchant seamen. The criminal side passed to the Central Criminal Court in 1834 but the civil side last until 1875 when it was amalgamated into the High Court. These records are at TNA in class HCA and class lists have been published by the List and Index Society (vols 27, 45 and 46).

Little indexing has yet been done, although the instance cases from 1756 are indexed by ship. Shilton and Holworthy (High Court of Admiralty Examinations 1637-1638. Anglo-American Records Foundation. ) published records for 1637-1638, Coldham (English Adventurers and Emigrants—abstracts of examinations in the High Court of Admiralty with reference to Colonial America 1609-1777. Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Maryland. ) has extracted and indexed emigrants and adventurers to USA (but not Canada, or West Indies) for 1609-1677. Currer-Briggs (Genealogical Gleanings from Cases in Chancery and Admiralty. Family Tree Magazine Vol 13 #6, page 20-21), Harrington and Herber have some detailed examples and TNA research guide L26 gives more details.

London Courts
Courts within the city of London had different names from those elsewhere, for example:


 * Guildhall Sessions were the equivalent of the quarter sessions.
 * Lord Mayor’s Court was similar to a borough court and was amalgamated with the City of London Court in 1857.

Mining Courts
The tin industry in Cornwall and Devon had become so important by the reign of Richard I (1189-1199) that a charter for the stannaries made the workers their own masters with their own parliament and courts, and exempt from ordinary taxes. The stannaries court was abolished in 1896 and its jurisdiction transferred to county courts.

In a similar manner the Derbyshire great barmote courts were held in mining areas where the crown was entitled to mineral duties. The twice-yearly barmote courts in the Peak District were fiercely independent regulators of local mining and trading laws.

Pie Powder (Market) Courts
In the 13th and 14th centuries charters were given by the king for nearly 5,000 fairs and markets. Fairs took place on specified days of the year, whilst markets were on a particular day or days each week.

The right to hold a market or a fair was an important tool ensuring that the local area became dependent upon the town as a commercial focus, and allowed landowners or boroughs to charge market tolls. They were usually under the jurisdiction of the lord of the manor’s steward who presided over the Pie Powder Court; the name is a corruption of pieds poudreux meaning dusty footed, in reference to the itinerant market people.

The Pie Powder Court dispensed immediate justice in cases relating to prices, quality and order at the market, and all other local courts were suspended for the duration of the market and its court. Records may be held in local archives or amongst the papers of the manor or borough. Smith (The Gravesend and Milton Fairs. Bygone Kent Vol 24; Part 1 in #1, page 29-35; Part 2 in #2, page 115-118) has written a long, well-illustrated article on the Gravesend and Milton fairs in Kent.

Port Mote
A court convened to govern a harbour or port was termed a port mote. One occasionally finds records such as:


 * Portmote books 1814-1865 amongst the quarter Sessions for Cheshire on.
 * Transcription of the Salford, Lancashire port mote records 1597-1669 on and.

Staple Courts
In 1313 foreign merchants were given the right to trade in specific English towns, known as staple towns, with the aim of regulating commerce in important commodities such as wool, wool cloth, leather and tin. Limitation to a few staple towns facilitated the collection of tolls or customs duties, and ensured that royal officials could control the quality of products. These towns were required to conveneCourts of the Staple to resolve trading disputes.

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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 National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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