Palace Court: Miscellanea

PALA 9

1630-1850

Miscellaneous records of the Palace Court including judges notebooks, attorneys' transcripts, documents concerning the appointment to and surrender of court offices, material about prisoners committed to the Marshalsea Prison, account books, exhibits and a few posters and handbills.

The judges' notebooks often give detailed accounts of the cases of both plaintiffs and defendants, as well as the outcome of cases, under headings giving the dates of hearings.

The attorneys' transcripts contain lists of cases in date order of court sessions, annotated with brief memoranda in which the London addresses and sometimes occupations of various individuals are a prominent feature. They are not transcripts in fact and their precise purpose is obscure.

Apart from the original letters patent of 1630 and 1664 establishing and confirming the status of the court, none of the records pre-dates 1706, and the bulk is from the first half of the nineteenth century.

Public Record(s)

English

17 bundle(s)

Topics

Prisons

The letters patent of 1630 which established the court laid down in detail the types of officers and their numbers, and the fees they could be paid. Documentation was therefore generated recording the appointment to, admission to, swearing in and surrender of offices, in the form of sealed warrants addressed to one of the justices of the court, or sealed declarations before witnesses.