Doncaster Borough Courts Records

Records including, Sessions of the Peace [AB/5/1 and 2] Court books 1533-1583, 1637-1638, 1725-1730, 1795-1823; sessions rolls 1616-1617, 1623-1626, 1755-1793; indictments 1607-1654, 1690-1701, 1732-1786; informations and examinations 1614-1651, 1690, 1730-1731 and associated records 1610-1734 (many gaps); Poor law: apprenticeship 1663-1799, bastardy 1654, 1689-1742, settlement and removal 1700-1752, other records 1723-1757; Licensing : lists of recognisances 1631, 1635; recognisances 1802-1809; Constables: returns to quarter sessions 1625-1729, with returns of 'strangers' and others, early 17th century and 1686-1720; memorandum book of the chief constable 1799-1817; accounts of gaol fees 1820-1821; Registration by the clerk of the peace relating to game duty 1785-1807; vessels plying waterways in the Doncaster area under an Act of 1795, 1795-1803; book of reference [no plan is extant] of a turnpike road from Doncaster to Thorne 1824; Oaths of office and sacrament certificates 1685-1742; West Riding Quarter Sessions, Lower Strafforth and Tickhill division, miscellaneous records, 1795-1806, including settlement 1796-1806 and bastardy 1796-1808 and 1829; Court of Pleas [civil court] [AB5/1 and 3] Court books 1571-1572, 1583-1601; lists of suits 1591, 1596-1597, 1603-1706, 1720-1727; cause papers 1584-1737; writs 1699-1739; affidavits 1727-1749; affidavits of debt and associated writs 1772, 1776-1806; other records 1835, 1840; Coroner [AB/5 /4 and CR/1] Inquisitions 1625-1700, 1890-1930 (not all years); Manorial Court [AB/5/1 and 5] Court rolls 1454-1509, 1520-1583, 1795-1823; court leet presentments 1608-1819, but with substantial gaps 1651-1745 and after 1771; other records 1610-1734; Court of Requests [AB/5/6] Minute book 1764-1788

Unless otherwise stated, everything over 30 years old is available for inspection

The borough was entitled to hold a number of different courts: coroner's, magistrates' (petty and quarter sessions); manorial; and two civil courts. The borough charter of 1467 created the mayor coroner for the borough and sole justice of the peace. The Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 allowed the borough to appoint its own coroner, who was not, however, to be a member of the council. Further information is to be found in J. Moran, 'By the Instigation of the Devil : the Doncaster borough coroner's records', in B. Elliott, Aspects of Doncaster, (Barnsley, 1997). The charter of 1505 also authorised three of the aldermen to act as justices, and gave the borough jurisdiction in criminal matters entirely independent of the county (West Riding of Yorkshire) justices. The West Riding quarter and petty sessions also convened in the town, but dealt solely with business outside the boundaries of the borough. A small amount of material from West Riding sessions has been found amongst the borough sessions records. A civil court, known as the court of pleas, dealt with cases of debt, contract and other matters essential to the commercial life of the borough. This court is first mentioned in the charter of 1467, but is probably of much earlier origin. The charter of 1505, in transferring the manor of Doncaster to the corporation, also authorised the corporation to hold a twice-yearly court leet. Finally, a local Act of 1763 created a small debts court, in which proceedings were cheaper than in the court of pleas. This court and the court of pleas were effectively superseded by the Doncaster County Court created under the County Courts Act, 1846, but were not formally abolished until the Local Government Act, 1972 (schedule 28).