Chancery: Registrars' Court or Minute Books

Volumes of minutes of proceedings in the court of Chancery, including proceedings before the master of the rolls as well as the lord chancellor.

Many of the entries in the registers are short, recording such matters as the reading of bills, answers, reports, affidavits, orders or wills, the making of appearances, notes of agreements as to procedure, with the names of the parties in the case in the margin by each entry.

Longer entries appear to give fairly full accounts of hearings, recording the court's decisions, sometimes including details of evidence by deponents, and noting the names of those pleading on behalf of the parties. The registers as a whole give a very full chronological account of the court's business.

Between 1653 and 1800 there were separate annual volumes for recording 'seals, causes and demurrers' before the lord chancellor and other judges.

The entries are given under headings for sitting days, each volume generally covering a term. Each book bears on the cover the name of the registrar for whom it was made.

From 1876, registrars' court and minute books in the Chancery Division may be found in J 56

Topics

Litigation

In 1654, for the first time, two books were produced for two different registrars, one recording proceedings before the lord chancellor, the other those before the master of the rolls. By the 1680s a separate volume was kept by each of the four deputy registrars.

The registrars received many of their fees for drawing and providing copies of the court's orders. In 1743 they were entitled to one shilling a page for copies of minutes they had written.