Court of Pleas of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge

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The Court of Pleas of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge, [1] sometimes called the Court of Pleas or Common Pleas of or at Durham was a court of common pleas that exercised jurisdiction within the County Palatine of Durham (including the wapentake of Sadberge) until its jurisdiction was transferred to the High Court by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873. Before the transfer of its jurisdiction, this tribunal was next in importance to the Chancery of Durham. [2] The Court of Pleas probably developed from the free court of the Bishop of Durham. [3] The Court of Pleas was clearly visible as a distinct court, separate from the Chancery, in the thirteenth century. [4]

Contents

Judges

The judges who went the Northern Circuit, and to whom a commission to take the assizes at Durham was directed, were judges of the court, and continued to be so, until another commission, directed to other judges, was issued for the next subsequent assizes; during which time, besides trying causes at the assizes, they held courts from time to time in London, for the purpose of granting and deciding upon rules, etc. And the judges of the court for the time being could make rules for regulating the proceedings in actions, and the mode and time of pleading; [5] or they or any two of them could adopt any such rules made by any of the superior courts at Westminster. [6] [7]

Officers

The prothonotary and his deputy were the principal officers on the civil side of the court; and his office at Durham was in fact the office of the court, where all the business out of court was transacted. The prothonotary had to keep three books; one, called the remembrance book, where the writs of pone and rules of court were entered; another, for entering the writs of summons and the appearances; and the third was an index of the names of the defendants in the two former. [8] The justices of the court could regulate the fees to be taken by the officers, and by the attorneys. [9] [10]

Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of the Court of Pleas of Durham inside the county palatine included jurisdiction similar to the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster and the Court of King's Bench. [11]

Nothing contained in section 1 of the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 prejudiced or affected the jurisdiction of this court. [12]

Procedure

Court of Pleas of Durham Act 1839
Act of Parliament
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (variant 1, 1952-2022).svg
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title An Act for improving the Practice and Proceedings of the Court of Pleas of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge.
Citation 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16
Dates
Royal assent 14 June 1839

As to practice and proceedings in the Court of Pleas in Durham, see the act 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16 [13] (sometimes called Court of Pleas of Durham Act 1839), [14] the Common Law Procedure Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 76), section 100 of the Common Law Procedure Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 125), and the Common Law Procedure Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. 126).

Appeal

An appeal lay from this court to the Queen's Bench. [15]

Costs

From 1839, the practice and proceedings in the Court of Pleas of the county palatine of Durham and Sadberge, were in a main degree assimilated to those in the three Courts of Law at Westminster. [16] The costs for preparing pleadings in actions here, were by express enactment made the same as those of a like description in the Superior Courts. [17] Provisions were made as to the costs with respect to the admission upon the trial of written and printed documents, and copies; [18] taxation of costs; [19] costs on paying money into Court; [20] fees to the officers; [21] costs on motions for new trials in the Superior Courts; [22] on removal of judgments; [23] removal of causes; [24] on writs of false judgment; [25] and as to the expenses of witnesses; [26] and any rule of Court made here, could be made a rule of any of the Superior Courts of Law at Westminster. [27] [28]

Relevant legislation

See section 86 of the County Courts Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 108). [29]

According to Baxter (note 61 at p 173), the principal statutes relating to Durham and its Court of Pleas included, amongst others, the following:

As to the process of Exigent in Durham, see the act 31 Eliz. 1. c. 9.

As to judgment in the Court of Pleas of Durham, see the act 8 Geo. 1. c. 25 and the Judgments Act 1838 (1 & 2 Vict. c. 110).

As to taking oaths and affidavits in Durham, see the act 4 Geo. 3. c. 21 [30]

As to order of Court of Pleas for examination of witnesses and interrogatories, see the Evidence by Commission Act 1831 (1 Will. 4. c. 22).

As to palatine jurisdiction and jura regalia transferred to the Crown, see the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 19).

As to the appointment of custos rotulorum in Durham, see the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will 4. c. 19).

As to duties and salaries of Clerks of the Crown in Durham, see the Criminal Justice Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 118).

As to transfer of jura regalia of Durham to Crown, see the Durham County Palatine Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 45).

Transfer of jurisdiction to the High Court

Section 16(10) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 provided that "there shall be transferred to and vested in" the "High Court of Justice the jurisdiction which, at the commencement of this Act, was vested in, or capable of being exercised by" the Court of Pleas at Durham. [31] This provision was repealed and replaced by section 18(2)(a)(vi) of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925, which was to the same effect.

As to prothonotaries, district prothonotaries and other officers of the Court of Pleas, see section 78 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873. [32]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, preamble. Archbold, Summary of the Laws of England, 1848, vol 1, p 184.
  2. ↑ Sixteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records. 2 June 1855. HMSO. p 48
  3. ↑ Constance M Fraser, "The Free Court of the Priors of Durham" in Christian Drummond Liddy (ed). The Bishopric of Durham in the Late Middle Ages: Lordship, Community and the Cult of St Cuthbert. The Boydell Press. Woodbridge. 2008. p 111
  4. ↑ John Bruce Williamson. The Palatine Court of Durham Act, 1889. Beavis Stewart & Co. 1890. The relevant text of this book is reprinted in a command paper at (1951) 16 Papers by command 58 (HMSO)
  5. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 15
  6. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 31
  7. ↑ Archbold, Summary of the Laws of England, 1848, vol 1, pp 184 & 185
  8. ↑ R Sept 1839, s 49
  9. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 22
  10. ↑ Archbold, Summary of the Laws of England, 1848, vol 1, p 185
  11. ↑ John Hamilton Baker. The Oxford History of the Laws of England: 1483-1558. Oxford University Press. 2003. p 292
  12. ↑ The Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836, proviso to section 1
  13. ↑ Rickards, The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, vol 79, p 80 et seq. An Act for improving the Practice and Proceedings of the Court of Common Pleas of the County of Durham and Sadberge. Sometimes cited as 2 Vict. c. 16.
  14. ↑ Current Law Statutes 1997. Sweet and Maxwell. Volume 3. Page 43
  15. ↑ Homersham Cox. The Institutions of the English Government. H Sweet. London. 1863. p 584.
  16. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16
  17. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 32
  18. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 15
  19. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 19
  20. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 21
  21. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 22
  22. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 24
  23. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 28
  24. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 33
  25. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 34
  26. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 27
  27. ↑ 2 & 3 Vict. c. 16, s 29
  28. ↑ George Barclay Mansel. The Law and Practice as to Costs. Spettigue. London. 1840. p 131.
  29. ↑ (1877) 12 Statutes Revised, 1st Ed 1070
  30. ↑ An Act for taking and swearing affidavits to be made use of in any of the courts of the county palatine of Durham. Repealed by the Commissioners for Oaths Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 10), Sch.
  31. ↑ William Downes Griffith and Richard Loveland Loveland. The Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873, 1875, & 1877. Second Edition. Stevens and Haynes. Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London. 1877. p 12. See also p 723 for other relevant provisions.
  32. ↑ William Thomas Charley, The New System of Practice and Pleading under the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts 1873, 1875, 1877, the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, and the Rules of the Supreme Court, Third Edition, p 186
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