MANOR COURT OR COURT LEET OF BRISTOL

BCC/J/Leet

MANOR COURT OR COURT LEET OF BRISTOL

<span class="wrapper"><p>See J/QS/Pr/1 for presentments by Grand Jury to the Bristol Leet, 1628-1666.</p> <p>A Manor Court Book 1663 - 1808 is held by the Bristol Municipal Charity Trustees</p></span>

English

The Great Court of the Manor or Court Baron was the Lord's Court (not a court of Record) for maintenance of the Lord's rights, the tenants' privileges and the settlement of differences. It was summoned by a steward, reeve or bailiff and presided over by the Lord or his steward. It had to be attended by all tenants, both freehold and copyhold, it was also an organ of adminstration for the community as well as a law court.

The Court Leet and View of Frankpledge was supposedly derived from a royal grant to the lord of the manor to save tenants from attending the sheriffs turn. It was a court of record and the steward had equal powers with the justices in their courts. It served as a local criminal court, 'the King's Court holden by the Lord'. The penalties were usually fines, as the court had no gaol the transfer of indictments to the Assizes (Edward IV) and the growth of the powers of the courts of Sessions led to the diminution of the manorial courts; in Bristol it came to be used for the suppression of nuisances