Writs and Inquisitions Ad Quod Damnum

Writs and Inquisitions Ad Quod Damnum, submitted for enrolment at East and West Kent Quarter Sessions

By the Act, 8-9 William III, cap. 16, s. 6 (1697) "Where any common highway at any time hereafter shall be inclosed after a writ or Ad quod Damnum issued, and inquisition thereupon taken, it shall be lawful for any persons aggrieved by such inclosure to make their complaint by appeal to the justices at the quarter sessions next after inquisition taken, who are hereby authorised to determine such appeal, and if no such appeal be made, then the said inquisition and return, entered and recorded by the Clerk of the peace, shall be for ever afterwards binding to all persons".

The procedure by writ of ad quad damnum was not new (there was a diversion at East Malling in 1676 [see U49 E1], but the documents had not before 1697 been recorded by Quarter Sessions. Exceptionally a diversion at Goodnestone-next-Wingham in 1724 [see U373 02] has left no trace among the records of Quarter Sessions. In some cases, however, Quarter Sessions was concerned with diversion of highways other than by writ of ad quod damnum. In 1664/5 an order was made under 14 Charles II, cap. 6, s. 6 (1662) for the widening of a road in Hackington [see Q/SO.El.f.98], and in 1701/2 an agreement was enrolled for the dedication of a new highway in place of the old one in Charing [see Q/SO.E4.f.79].

In the cases of only seven of the thirty-four writs ad quod damnum dealt with by Quarter Sessions do any of the documents survive besides the entry in the Order Book. In three of these seven cases enrolment was refused, and in two others the only document surviving is the certificate of completion. It seems, therefore, that the normal procedure was for no copies of the writ and inquisition to be retained by the Clerk of the Peace, beyond that in the Order Book, unless enrolment was refused. In one case where it was so refused [Q/RH 1/4] the original writ and inquisition remained with the Clerk of the Peace and were not returned to Chancery.

Before 1741, instead of copies of the writ and inquisition, only a description of the diversion was entered in the Order Book.

This is primarily a catalogue of documents, so that those cases where documents survive are numbered 1 to 7. Letters are added to these numbers to provide references for the remainder.