
                    **********************************
                          PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE 
                    RECORDS INFORMATION Leaflet No: 26
                    **********************************

  [Note: this and all other PRO Records Information leaflets are (c)
  Crown Copyright, but may be freely reproduced except for sale or
  advertising purposes.  Copies should always include this Copyright
  notice -- please respect this.]   Crown Copyright (c) May 1985.

------------------------------- start of text -------------------------------

                             ASSIZES RECORDS [1]

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From the thirteenth century onwards, justices were sent (normally in pairs)
from the central courts at Westminster on circuits which together covered all
the counties of England except London, Middlesex, and the palatinates.
Originally their function was to try certain types of property litigation
under provisions ('assizes') of Henry II, but they soon acquired other
functions. The courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and, to a lesser extent,
the Exchequer gradually came to issue writs undertaking to try cases at
Westminster unless they had previously (nisi prius) been heard - as they
invariably were - by the assize justices in the relevant county. More
importantly, the assize justices were also commissioned to hear and try
criminal cases arising at their own sessions, or transferred from the justices
of the peace at quarter sessions, [2] or in the course of 'delivering' county
goals of prisoners on remand. By the fifteenth century this criminal
jurisdiction had come to dominate the business of assizes sessions, which
continued until they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by the
crown court, which also absorbed the Liverpool and Manchester crown courts
which were established with assizes jurisdiction in 1956.

Surviving records of medieval assize and gaol delivery sessions are among the
records of the justices itinerant (JUST 1 and JUST 3-4)*. Thereafter, with the
exception of indictments for the Home circuit, which start in 1559, the
earliest surviving records of clerks of assize date from the seventeenth
century (ASSI 1 - ASSI 93)*. The early records of several circuits are
incomplete and there are substantial gaps later, for example for the period
1891-1923 in the North Eastern circuit.

Most of the records of the assize courts and parallel jurisdictions are very
formal and until 1733 were written mainly in Latin, often much abbreviated.
They are of little use for general genealogical enquiries: the age of the
accused is not recorded anywhere as a matter of course, nor are details of
parentage, while the place of residence given is quite unreliable. With the
exception of the Home circuit for the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, there
is no index of persons or places. To find a case it is necessary to know the
county or circuit and the approximate date of the assize sitting at which it
was heard. A table showing how the counties were grouped into circuits can be
found in Appendix 1.

<<Indictments>> give the nature (expressed in legal form) and alleged date of
each offence and the alleged parish of residence of the accused. They are
usually minuted with a note of the plea, verdict and sentence. Other records
filed with indictments include judges' commissions; calendars, or lists, of
prisoners to be tried; jury panels; coroners' inquests; and presentments of
a variety of lesser offences including neglect of roads and bridges, keeping
unlicensed alehouses, and recusancy.

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[1] An asterisk (*) denotes records held at Chancery Lane, a double asterisk
(**) those held at Kew.

[2] Most surviving quarter sessions records are deposited in local record
offices, whose addresses may be found in Record Repositories in Great Britain,
7th edn (London, HMSO, 1982).
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<<Depositions>> are the sworn, written testimony of witnesses. Few survive,
but those that do are frequently informative and may contain the ages and
places of residence of the deponents. A few are filed with the indictments.

<<Gaol Books>>, <<Crown Minute Books>> and <<Agenda>> Books list prisoners and
record in outline the cases heard, or to be heard. They are usually annotated
with plea, verdict and sentence.

<<Order Books>> record orders made by the assize judges in local disputes,
frequently referring cases to the arbitration of local magistrates. Many will
be found in the various classes of Miscellaneous Books.

<<Miscellaneous Books>> also include postea books which record the proceedings
at assizes under writs of nisi prius. The writs were usually returned to the
central courts, among whose records such cases should be sought, but some
survive in the assize records.

A list of the various assize records arranged by circuit is in Appendix 2.


SPECIAL JURISDICTIONS

<<London and Middlesex>>. Before 1834 the London and Middlesex sessions of
oyer and terminer and gaol delivery were held before the lord mayor. The
surviving records for the city of London are in the Corporation of London
Records Office, Guildhall, London EC2P 2EJ (tel: 01-606-3030 ext. 2251).
Those for Middlesex are deposited in the Greater London Record Office, 40
Northampton Road, London EC1R 0AB (tel: 01-633-6851).

From its establishment in 1834 until the abolition of assizes, the Central
Criminal Court at the Old Bailey served as the assize court for London,
Middlesex and parts of Essex, Kent and Surrey. Incomplete sets of the printed
proceedings for both the London and Middlesex sessions for 1801-1834 and the
Central Criminal Court for 1834-1912 are in the <<Old Bailey Sessions Papers>>
(PCOM 1)** and in <<Minutes of Evidence>> (CRIM 10)* in the Public Record
Office. The class <<Old Bailey Sessions>> (HO 16)** lists prisoners to be
tried at the Old Bailey, 1815-1849, and the <<Newgate Calendar>> (HO 77)**
those to be tried at Newgate, 1782-1853.  Both classes include name, age,
offence, verdict and sentence, and the latter also the names of the committing
magistrate and the justice who heard the case together with the dates of
committal and trial. The records of the Central Criminal Court from 1834 are
also in the Public Record Office.*


<<Wales>>. As part of the 1543 Act of Union the courts of Great Sessions were
created to deal with assize business in the principality- Surviving records
are deposited in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3BU
(tel: 0970-3816). The courts were abolished in 1830 and replaced first by a
single North and South Wales circuit which in 1876 was split into two
divisions, one for North Wales and the other for South Wales, under which all
records from 1830 to 1945 are arranged.  In 1945 the two divisions were merged
and the circuit was renamed Wales and Chester.


<<Palatinate of Chester>>. Until 1830 the justice of Chester dealt with the
assize business of the palatinate and of one of the circuits of Great
Sessions. Although Flintshire was part of the palatinate of Chester, it was
included in that Great Sessions circuit and its records are now at the
National Library of Wales, whereas those relating to Chester are in the Public
Record Office* (see Appendix 3).

From 1830 to 1945 the palatinate records are to be found among those of the
North and South Wales Circuit, which also includes a few earlier documents
originating in the court of Great Sessions, and thereafter among those of the
Wales and Chester Circuit.


<<Palatinates of Durham and Lancaster>>. Until 1876 each of these palatinates
had independent jurisdiction in assize business and the surviving records are
mainly with the other records of their respective clerks of the crown in the
Public Record Office* (see Appendix 3), although a few isolated ones are among
the records of the old Northern assize circuit. In 1876 the two counties were
incorporated in the normal assize system, Durham in the North Eastern circuit
and Lancashire in the Northern, and thereafter their records are to be found
with the others of those circuits.


RELATED RECORDS

There are several classes of Home Office records which report the result of
proceedings at assizes or the later commutation of sentence. They include
criminal registers (HO 26 and HO 27);** petitions for reduction or remission
of sentence (HO 17 and HO 18);** and registers or lists of convicts sentenced
to transportation (HO 6 and HO 8-11).**  Lists of prisoners sentenced to
transportation and those in hulks can also be found among Privy Council and
Treasury records (PC 1/2715-2718* and T 38/310-337).**  Prisoners to be tried
at quarter sessions are listed in <<Calendar of Prisoners>> (HO 140).**

Cases referred from assizes to the court of King's Bench are among the records
of that court, particularly in the various classes of <<Indictments>> (KB 9-
12).*  Nisi prius records sent to the clerk of assize from the central courts
and returned after trial with the <<postea>> endorsed, are preserved in the
classes of <<Posteas>> (CP 41, CP 42 and KB 20).*


ABBREVIATIONS

Even after the use of Latin was abolished in courts in 1733, Latin
abbreviations continued to be used, as previously, for the most frequently
used phrases, especially in notes of later developments in cases written on
the indictments. Among the most common are:

    ca null          <<catalla nulla>>: no goods or chattels to forfeit.

    cogn ind         <<cognovit indictamentum>>: confessed to the indictment,
                     that is pleads guilty.

    cul              <<culpabilis>>: guilty.

    ign              <<ignoramus>>: we do not know, that is the grand jury
                     finds no case to answer - usually endorsed on the
                     indictment when it is not endorsed billa vera, true bill.

    non cul nec re   <<non culpabilis nec retraxit>>: not guilty and did not
                     flee (and therefore did not have to forfeit possessions).

    po se           <<ponit se super patriam>>: puts herself (or himself) on
                     the country (jury), that is pleads not guilty.

    sus              <<suspendatur>>: let her (or him) be hanged.


SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

J S Cockburn: A History of English Assizes, 1558-1714 (Cambridge, 1972)

J S Cockburn: 'Early-modern assize records as historical evidence', Journal
of the Society of Archivists, vol. 5 (1974-7), 215-31

J S Cockburn: 'Trial by the Book? Fact and Theory in the Criminal Process,
1558-1625', Legal Records and the Historian, ed. J H Baker (London, Royal
Historical Society, 1978), 60-79

J S Cockburn, ed: Calendar of Assize Records: Essex Indictments, Elizabeth I
(London, HMSO, 1978)
       James I (1982)
   Hertfordshire Indictments, Elizabeth I (1975)
       James I (1975)
   Kent Indictments, Elizabeth I (1979)
       James I (1980)
   Surrey Indictments, Elizabeth I (1980
       James I (1982)
   Sussex Indictments, Elizabeth I (1975)
       James I (1975)
   Introduction (In the press)

J S Cockburn, ed: Western Circuit Assize Orders, Camden 4th series, vol. 17
(1976)

T G Barnes, ed: Somerset Assize Orders, Somerset Record Society, vol. 65
(1959)

J S Cockburn, ed: Somerset Assize Order, 1640-1659, Somerset Record Society,
vol. 71 (1971)

List of Various Common-Law Records, Public Record Office Lists and Indexes,
       Supplementary Series, No.1

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                                  APPENDIX 1

                                ASSIZE CIRCUITS

[Ed: the original leaflet displays this information in landscape mode, with
the headings HOME, NORFOLK, MIDLAND, OXFORD, NORTHERN, WESTERN, GREAT SESSIONS
along the top of the page, and the information pertaining to the headings
arranged in columns, as below.  Since this layout would be difficult to view
on screen, I have split the landscape page into left and right halves,
with the break between the halves indicated by a 'tear' line ===.]


HOME                     NORFOLK        MIDLAND        OXFORD
1558-1876                1558-1863      1558-1863      1558-1971
Essex                    Beds           Derb           Berks
Herts                    Bucks          Leics          Glos
Kent                     Cambs          Lincs          Heref
Surrey                   Hunts          Northants      Monm
Sussex                   Norf           Notts          Oxon
                         Suff           Rut            Salop
                                        Warw           Staffs
                                                       Worcs

                         1864-1876      1864-1876
                         as above       Derb
                         plus           Lincs
                         Leics          Notts
                         Northants      Warw
                         Rut            Yorks

     SOUTH EASTERN
       1876-1971                        1876-1971
       Cambs                            Beds
       Essex                            Bucks
       Herts                            Derb
       Hunts                            Leics
       Kent                             Lincs
       Norf                             Northants
       Suff                             Notts
       Surrey                           Rut
       Sussex                           Warw

==============================================================================

       NORTHERN                         WESTERN        GREAT SESSIONS
       1558-1863                        1558-1971      1543-1830
       Cumb                             Corn           Welsh counties
       Northumb                         Devon
       Westm                            Dors
       Yorks                            Hants       NORTH AND SOUTH WALES
                                        Som             1830- 1876
                                        Wilts         Welsh counties
                                                      Ches


       1864-1876                                    NORTH WALES    SOUTH WALES
    as above except                                 DIVISION       DIVISION
       Yorks                                        1876-1945      1876-1945
                                                    Ang            Brec
                                                    Caern          Card
                                                    Ches           Carm
                                                    Denb           Glam
NORTHERN                 NORTH EASTERN              Flint          Pemb
1876-1971                1876-1971                  Merion         Rad
Cumb                     Durh                       Mont
Lancs                    Northumb
Westm                    Yorks
                                                    WALES AND CHESTER
                                                        1945-1971
                                                      Welsh counties
                                                      Ches

==============================================================================
                                  APPENDIX 2

                                ASSIZE RECORDS

[Ed: likewise APPENDIX 2 was displayed in landscape mode, and I have split
similarly.]
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               OXFORD        MIDLAND          WESTERN       SOUTH EASTERN
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MINUTE         ASSI 1    (Crown) ASSI 11  (Crown) ASSI 21      ASSI 32
BOOKS         1803-1888     1818-1945        1730-1953        1783-1943
                         --------------------------------
                         (Civil) ASSI 14  (Civil) ASSI 22
                            1929-1944        1656-1945

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CROWN          ASSI 2
BOOKS         1656-1949
               ASSI 3
              1847-1951
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GAOL BOOKS                                    ASSI 23          ASSI 33
                                             1670-1824        1734-1863
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AGENDA                                                         ASSI 31
BOOKS                                                         1735-1943
                                                           Index: ASSI 40
                                                              1859-1911
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ORDER BOOKS

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MISCELLANEOUS  ASSI 4                         ASSI 24          ASSI 34
BOOKS         1660-1888                      1611-1932        1673-1890
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INDICTMENTS    ASSI 5        ASSI 12          ASSI 25          ASSI 35
              1650-1957     1860-1957          1729;          1559-1957
                                             1801-1953     ---------------
                             ASSI 80                       Norfolk circuit
                            1652-1688                           only
                                                               ASSI 16
                                                              1653-1698
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DEPOSITIONS    ASSI 6        ASSI 13          ASSI 26          ASSI 36
              1719-1951     1862-1943        1861-1947        1813-1943


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PLEADINGS      ASSI 8                         ASSI 28          ASSI 37
              1854-1890                      1812-1957        1870-1890
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ESTREATS       ASSI 9                                          ASSI 38
              1746-1890                                       1770-1870
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RETURNS        ASSI 10                        ASSI 30
              1732-1890                      1740-1902
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MISCELLANEOUS                ASSI 15
PAPERS                      1606-1617;
                            1852-1919
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MISCELLANEA                                                    ASSI 39
                                                             Wm III-1891
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CERTIFICATES

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CORONERS'
INQUISITIONS
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PARDONS       ASSI 81/   ASSI 81/14-103     ASSI 81/1-3
                4-13        1866-1886          1948
                                             1944-1958
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CASE PAPERS                                   ASSI 82
                                             1951-1953
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JUDGMENT
ROLLS

==============================================================================
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                               NORTH AND SOUTH WALES
NORTH EASTERN NORTHERN     N WALES DIVN      S WALES DIVN   WALES AND CHESTER
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   ASSI 41     ASSI 54    (Crown) ASSI 61   (Crown) ASSI 76      ASSI 79
 1714-1889;   1877-1915      1831-1938         1844-1942          1945
 1921-1944                ----------------------------------------------------
                          (Civil) ASSI 57   (Civil) ASSI 75      ASSI 78
                            1843-1878;         1846-1943        1945-1946
                            1911 1924
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                             ASSI 62
                            1835-1883


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   ASSI 42
  1658-1811
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               ASSI 53
              1879-1890
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   ASSI 43     ASSI 55        ASSI 63           ASSI 77
  1730-1866   1810-1876      1694-1942         1837-1884
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   ASSI 44     ASSI 51        ASSI 64           ASSI 71          ASSI 83
  1607-1890;    1868;        1831-1891;        1834-1892;       1945-1957
  1924-1957   1877-1957      1908-1945         1920-1945




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   ASSI 45     ASSI 52        ASSI 65           ASSI 72          ASSI 84
  1613-1890;  1877-1945      1831-1891;        1837-1942          1945
  1924-1941                  1909-1944

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                              ASSI 59
                             1840-1927
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   ASSI 46
  1843-1890
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                              ASSI 60
                             1867-1912
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   ASSI 47                    ASSI 67           ASSI 73
  1629-1950                  1778-1890         1839-1937
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                              ASSI 58
                             1914-1926
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                              ASSI 66
                             1798-1891
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                                                                 ASSI 84
                                                                  1945
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                                                ASSI 74
                                               1841-1842

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                                  APPENDIX 3

                     RECORDS OF PALATINATE JURISDICTIONS



                  PALATINATE        PALATINATE         PALATINATE
                  OF CHESTER        OF DURHAM         OF LANCASTER


MINUTE BOOKS                        DURH 15            PL 28/1-12
                                    1770-1876           1687-1877


CROWN BOOKS                         DURH 16
                                    1753-1876

INDICTMENTS                         DURH 17               PL 26
                                    1582-1876           1424-1868

DEPOSITIONS                         DURH 18               PL 27
                                    1843-1876           1663-1867

MISCELLANEA                         DURH 19               PL 28
                                    1472-1815       Rich II-Victoria

ASSIZE ROLLS                                           PL 15/1-93
                                                     1401; 1422-1501
                                                       PL 25/6-317
                                                        1524-1843

DEEDS                                                     PL 29
                                                   16th-19th centuries

GAOL FILES        CHES 24
                  1341-1830

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