Palatinate of Durham: Court of Pleas: Concords of Fines Files

DURH 11

1660-1834

This series consists of files of concords of fines from the Court of Pleas at Durham, spanning the years 1660 to 1834 when feet of fines were abolished. Concords of fines were the preliminary agreements between the parties, styled the demandant and the tenant, in a legal fiction devised to register the conveyance of property as a court record. These concords were produced for the court's consideration, and provide a fuller record of the transaction than the feet of fine (or the notes), omitting only the payment involved in the conveyance. The concords themselves were usually initiated by a writ of covenant to secure a license to concord.

The earliest records in the series often contain two documents for the same transaction, though the two may not be next to each other in a file. The first is a writ of precipe which initiated the collusive case on which the concord was grounded; after the date is written the amount of the fine paid to the bishop. The second is the concord.

This series consists of 175 files arranged in 44 bundles. The highest number of items in a files is 207 and 42 files out of 175 have more than 150 items. The number of items in the files are indicated in the catalogue and correspond to numbers in pencil on the documents. These are not to be confused with old numbers in ink, which derive from their arrangement in Durham, and are in contrary sequence. Neither numbering is in chronological sequence, as the documents themselves do not observe it, strung together as they are in files, but the top of the file usually shows the latest date on it. The series is uncalendared.

No concords of fines survive prior to 1660.

Public Record(s)

English

44 bundle(s)

Topics

Conveyancing