Court of Common Pleas: Concords of Fines Files, William IV - Victoria

CP 24/12

1830-1839

Files of concords, texts of agreements to convey property which were drawn up as a preliminary to levying a final concord to bring about the conveyance itself, for the reigns of William IV and Victoria.

This series consists of writs of dedimus potestatem issued by the Court of Common Pleas in the name of either William IV or Queen Victoria. These writs, essentially orders, were addressed to the justices and other officials of the English courts, commissioning them to collect the acknowledgements of the defendants (or deforciants) unable to travel to Westminster, one of the parties in collusive suits pending before the court which were intended to end in a final concord settling the supposed dispute. The writs were then returned by the justices endorsed with their answer and the term in which a proclamation was made. The proclamation was a public announcement made in court to declare the end of the case and to detail the terms of the final concord. These proclamations provided validity to the final concord. Although there might be multiple terms in which a proclamation could be made, the writs were filed by the first term of proclamation.

The formulae of the dedimus potestatem writs are well known and easily ascertained from formularies and accounts of court practice. These documents give the names of the parties involved in the suits (plaintiffs or buyers and defendants or sellers) and also detail the properties in question. In many cases, the dorses of the writs are blank and the acknowledgements are on other pieces of parchment attached to the writ. The endorsed or attached acknowledgements were to be used as part of the text of the final concords. These also often include the signatures of the officials or of the deforciants, and the proclamation term by which the writs were collected by the filazers.

Feet of fines were abolished by 3 & 4 William IV c 74, with effect from the beginning of 1834. There are a few files from 1834 to Easter 1839 (CP 24/12/43/1 to CP 24/12/43/12), which contain concords of fines whose passage was completed subsequent to the abolition taking effect.

In the 19th century some original files were dismantled and accessioned by monarch in CP 24/1 to CP 24/13

Original files until the reign of Charles II are in CP 61

Writs of dedimus potestatem until the reign of Elizabeth I are in CP 52

Public Record(s)

English

133 file(s)

Topics

Conveyancing