COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 CLC/306
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
Date(s)	: 1765
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 1 production unit.
Name of creator(s)	: Court of Common Pleas

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Court of Common Pleas was founded by King Henry II to hear common pleas (matters between subject and subject). It was the only Court where personal actions of account, covenant, debt and detinue could be heard. The Court also had jurisdiction to review and change the decisions of older courts. From 1187 the Court sat at Westminster. The Court was headed by a Chief Justice, working with a team of lesser justices (between three and eight in number at various times) and a large number of clerks. The Court was abolished in 1875.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Record of the Court of Common Pleas, comprising a brief for the defendants in an action for impounding and ill-treating cattle coming to Smithfield Market. The case arose from numerous complaints about the nuisance caused in Smithfield and other streets in the city by cattle dealers driving cattle and sheep on Sunday evenings into Smithfield in order to get the best stands and pens.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

One item.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited in the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, which merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

Allied Materials

Related material:

For other records of the Court of Common Pleas see ACC/0218, ACC/0589 and ACC/1031. For Smithfield Market see CLA/016.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
August to October 2010.