Description

Admin History:

The Court of Record or Venire, as it was popularly known from the form of the writ of summons it issued to the parties involved in litigation, was the court in which civil actions arising within Hull Borough were heard. It was as old as the Borough itself. In the first charter (27 Edward I, 1299), it was provided that the burgesses should make all pleas about tenures, trespassers and contracts before the Borough Warder (predecessor of the Mayor). This provision was confirmed in subsequent charters and in the charter of 1382 (5 Richard II) it was granted that the Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses should exercise cognizance of all pleas both of the assizes of novel disseisin and mort d'ancestor and concerning real property, trespass, covenants, debts, accounts, and contracts [refs: J R Boyle, Charters and Letters Patent Granted to Kingston upon Hull, 1905].

The court itself was first mentioned in the charter of 1440 (18 Henry I), which created the office of Sheriff. It specified that the Mayor and Sheriff should continue to hold the court of pleas as had the Mayor and Bailiff hitherto. The duties and privileges of the court were confirmed from time to time until, in three late seventeenth century charters the status of the Court of which the records have survived were defined. The fullest statement is to be found in the charter of 1661 (13 Charles II). It confirmed previous grants and the court's freedom from interference by royal officers and specified that the Mayor and Sheriff should hold a court in the Guildhall to hear all kinds of "pleas, suits, plaints and demands, as well as actions, real and personal and mixed" and to have cognizance of all pleas of trespass, covenant and contact arising in the Borough.

The charters of 1685 (1 James II) and 1688 (3 James II) briefly confirmed these provisions. In the nineteenth century Courts of Record became subject to statutory control under the Municipal Corporations Act (5 & 6 William IV, c76, s18) and subsequent acts. Provisions in the Common Law Procedure Acts of 1852 (15 & 16 Victoria c76), 1854 (17 & 18 Victoria c125) and 1860 (23 & 24 Victoria c126), the Borough and Local Courts of Record Act of 1872 (35 & 36 Victoria c86) and the Summary Procedure on Bills of Exchange Act 1855 (18 & 19 Victoria c 57) applied to the Court at Hull [ref: Halsbury's The Laws of England, 1909]. In effect the Court has been defunct since 1915 when the last case was held although returns of its work were being submitted to the Home Office as late as 1928.

There are several descriptions of the way the Court worked in about 1800. It was held before the Mayor, Sheriff and Recorder who sat as judges. The latter gave rules of law and judgements. All businesses had to be brought before the Court by one of its authorised attornies. Until the eighteenth century there were three of these, but the growth of the town and consequently of demands for the Court's services led to their number being increased to seven.

Description:

Actions entered 1697-1824,1867-1886

Minutes 1740-1915

Records 1883-1892, 1910-1911

Appearance Books 1862-1915

Case papers 1655-1658, 1779, 1875, 1881-1914

Home Office Returns 1885-1928

Papers relating to the administrations of the court including rules and regulations 1599, 1852-1910

Financial Papers: Fees books 1750-1915 (incomplete); cash book 1858-1865

Miscellaneous papers relating to court costs c1910; (a) List of jury panel members 1876-1910