Court of Common Pleas: Concords of Fines Files, Additional Edward II - Charles I

CP 24/13

1320-1649

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.

This series was created from broken CP 52, CP 61, and CP 24/1-CP 24/3 files. It contains material from the reigns of Edward II until Charles I.

It consists of writs of dedimus potestatem issued by the Court of Common Pleas in the name of the monarch. 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.

Broken Writs of Covenant are in CP 50

Dedimus potestatem before 1558 are in CP 52

Notes of fines files are in CP 26/1

and CP 25/2

Writs of covenant files are in CP 55

to CP 26/14

Feet of fines of final concords are in CP 25/1

Original files of concords are in

CP 61

Public Record(s)

English

15 file(s)