Piece
c 246-255
Catalogue reference: C 65/6064
Date: 62 & 63 Vict
c 246-255
Sub-series
SUPPLICAVIT
Catalogue reference: Sub-series within C 255
What's it about?
Sub-series within C 255
Description available at other catalogue level
Full description and record details
-
Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- Sub-series within C 255
-
Title (The name of the record)
- SUPPLICAVIT
-
Note (Additional information about the record)
- The purpose of this writ was to protect a man from those threatening his life, limbs and the burning of his house. It replaced the earlier non-returnable writ de minis which instructed the sheriff to give the threatened man the king's peace. (Registrum omnium brevium, Original, f.88b.) Supplicavit, which is described as de minis de nova forma, (Ibid., f.89.) was returnable into Chancery; it required the person complained of to appear in person before the addressee and produce sureties for good behaviour under threat of imprisonment if he did not. The earliest writs come from 38 Edward III and the slight variations of formule in this and the years immediately following suggest that the process may date from about this time. Before the reign of Edward IV the writ was most commonly sent to the sheriff, a few to the justices or keepers of the peace; thereafter the addressees were the sheriff and the keepers of the peace jointly. The security required varied in different periods; earlier writs stated the amount for which sureties should be provided; the normal practice then became more flexible, requiring the amount to be reasonable or, occasionally, severe; (C255/1/1 nos. 25, 38.) late in the reign of Edward IV this change was partially reversed and some writs fixed the number of sureties, their financial status and the sum in which the man complained of should himself stand surety. It is clear from the writs habeas corpus cum causa and certiorari super causa capcionis preserved with their returns on the Corpus cum causa files (C244) that some persons had difficulty in finding sureties and were therefore imprisoned. Others were able to find them in Chancery and entered into Recognizances there (C259, C244); the filing of such a recognizance allowed a writ of supersedeas to issue upon the supplicavit, normally with the condition that the man should appear before the original addressees and provide simply his own surety; (C255/1/2 no. 10.) such a supersedeas appears to have been adequate protection against a subsequent supplicavit unless re-inforced with a non obstante clause, (e.g. C255/1/8 no. 25.) and it is significant that large numbers of the counterwrits of such writs supersedeas were carefully preserved in the Chancery on the Stool bundle. Most writs supplicavit deal in general terms with threats to the complainant, but a few mention law-suits and similar causes of contention. (e.g. C255/1/1 no. 2; C255/1/11 no. 20.) Three later writs sought to protect a wife against her husband who might exceed quam ad virum suum ex causa regiminis et rationabiliter pertinet. (C255/1/9 no. 22; C255/1/11 no. 25; C255/1/11 no. 27; cf. Registrum omnium brevium, Original, f. 89 `aliter'.) There is also a writ illustrating the rivalry between the court of King's Bench and the Chancery. A supplicavit issued on 10 July 22 Edward IV followed hard upon the heels of an attachment issued by King's Bench on 22 June of the same year, sued out by the same complainant against the same party. (C255/1/8 no. 9.) For convenience two writs supplicavit which require the alleged offender to appear in Chancery and produce sureties there, (C255/1/6 no. 34A.) and three writs of another type from the reign of Richard II which are addressed to individuals and require their appearance before the council prepared to give sureties for good behaviour towards specified individuals (C255/1/4 no. 34A; C255/1/6 nos. 16A, 17A.) have been included in this class. The documents in this class were formerly included in Chancery Miscellanea (C47) Bundles 47-146, Chancery Files (C202) Series C and unsorted miscellanea from the Tower and Rolls Chapel. Some later writs supplicavit are filed on the Corpus cum causa files; they are attached to writs certiorari super tenore securitatis pacis, often issued a day or so after the supplicavit itself.
-
Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C64818/
Series information
C 255
Chancery Files, Tower and Rolls Chapel Series, Miscellaneous Files and Writs
See the series level description for more information about this record.
Catalogue hierarchy
1,513,583 records
Within the department: C
Records created, acquired, and inherited by Chancery, and also of the Wardrobe, Royal...
134 records
Within the series: C 255
Chancery Files, Tower and Rolls Chapel Series, Miscellaneous Files and Writs
You are currently looking at the sub-series: Sub-series within C 255
SUPPLICAVIT
Related records
Records that share similar topics with this record.