The documents of the once styled Courts of Chancery, Queen’s Bench, Exchequer, and Common Pleas contain the very essence of England’s antiquarian wealth: they constitute most of its bulk, much of its legal importance, and nearly all its historical interest. “The custom of recording documents on rolls of parchment,” writes Sir Thomas Hardy, the late deputy-keeper of the public records, “though of very ancient date, commenced nevertheless at a period subsequent to the Conquest; for no vestige can be traced of such a system during the Anglo-Saxon dynasty.

‘ Apud Anglo-Saxones/ says Hickes, ‘ etiam mos erat leges regum latas in codicibus monasteriorum tanquam in tabulas publicas referendi.’ It may be assumed that, had such a })Ian been then in operation, the same would have been adopted by the Conqueror to perpetuate the survey of the kingdom which he caused to be made, and for the preservation of which he evinced so much zeal and anxiety.” As to the precise time when the use of rolls for the entry of matters of business first began there is still considerable doubt. That no rolls of a date antecedent to that of the 31st Henry I. are now in existence is certain. It may therefore be presumed that the practice of enrolling commenced shortly after the Conquest.

Court of Chancery .— Owing to the vast quantity of documents of this court, only the salient points of the principal series of rolls can be dealt with. Among the most important enrolments belonging to this court is the extensive series of documents known as the close rolls or Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum. Upon their well-preserved parchment membranes the historian scans entries relating —to the privileges of peers and commoners in times gone by; to measures employed for the raising of armies and the equipment of fleets; to orders for the observance of treaties, and for the fortification of castles; and to laws innumerable touching the power of the bench, the authority of the church, the extent of the civil jurisdiction, and the prerogatives of the crown. By the help of these rolls the lawyer and antiquary can learn how the coinage of the realm was regulated, how aids and imposts, toll-ages and subsidies, were raised, how riots and tumults were suppressed, how state prisoners were pardoned, how the writs ran for the summoning of parliaments, what deeds w׳ere enrolled between party and party, what facts were deemed worthy of record upon the birth, marriage, and death of royal and noble families; in short, there is little that concerns the naval and military, the civil and ecclesiastical, the legal and diplomatic affairs of the kingdom, which is not to be found upon the yards and yards of parchment which constitute the collection of the close rolls. The origin of the name “close” is due to the fact that the documents composing the series, being of a private nature, were despatched closed or sealed up, and were addressed to one or two persons only. The close rolls begin with the reign of John and continue without interruption to the present time. Since the days of Henry VIII. the entries on these rolls are mostly confined to the enrolments of deeds of bargain and sale, wills of papists, recognizances, specifications of new׳ inventions, and other instruments enrolled for safe custody by warrant from the lord chancellor or master of the rolls. Next in importance, and scarcely second in historical interest, is the series of muniments, dating also from King John to the !?resent day, called the patent rolls. Not a subject connected with the history and government of the country but receives illustration from this magnificent collection. Is a castle besieged by the king, a papal interdict removed by royal supplication, a safe-conduct granted to an unpopular prelate, credence allowed to some court witness, grace shown to a rebellious subject, church lands bestow׳ed on begging clergy, negotiations entered into with foreign princes, powers of ambassadors regulated, lands, offices, and wardships granted to public bodies or private persons, titles of nobility created, charters confirmed, proclamations drawn up, licences to hold, sell, and marry, commands to do fealty and homage,—all, whether relating to political, social, ecclesiastical, or commercial life, are to be found recorded on the membranes of the “litterae patentes.” With the exception of a few gaps in the reigns of John and Henry III. the letters-patent extend without break or flaw from the year 1200 to our own day. Unlike the close rolls, they are unsealed and exposed to view, hence their name. The third great class of records belonging to the Court of Chancery consists of the “ parliament rolls ”; these, however, are far from being a perfect collection, as many of the documents containing the proceedings of various parliaments are hopelessly lost. The series begins with the 6th Edw׳ard I. and extends, though v׳itli frequent breaks, to Henry YIII. As the journals of the

House of Lords do not commence till the reign of Henry VIII., it is only from the parliament rolls that proof can be obtained of a peer having sat in parliament previous to that period; such proof is always requisite in claims to an ancient barony by writ. When complete these rolls contain entries of the various transactions which took place from the opening to the close of each parliament. Unfortunately many of the lost rolls belong to those parliaments which are of the greatest importance for the history of the constitution. The enrolments of Acts of Parliament, however, are of considerable help in the investigation of English parliamentary history and constitute a most important supplement to the parliament rolls. They begin with Richard III. and continue to 1849, when enrolments ceased and Acts printed on vellum were substituted. Space forbids us to enter into details respecting the other important collections belonging to the Chancery records. We only allude briefly to the charter rolls, which consist of grants of privileges to religious houses and bodies corporate, and which extend from John to Henry VIII., in which reign grants from the crown were entered on the patent rolls; the coronation rolls, which contain the commissions and proceedings of the commissioners appointed to hear and determine claims of service to be performed at coronations, as well as the oaths taken by the king or queen when crowned,—this collection, with the exception of the coronation rolls of Charles I. and George III., which are wanting, is perfect from James I. to Victoria; the fine rolls, consisting of accounts of fines paid to the king for licences to alienate lands, for freedom from knight service, for pardons, wardships, and the like, which also begin with John and go down to Charles I.; the French and Norman rolls, which relate to transactions in France whilst the English held part of that country; the oblata rolls, consisting of accounts of the offerings and free gifts to the sovereign from his subjects; and the valuable inquisitions post-mortem, frequently but erroneously referred to as escheat rolls, taken on the death of every tenant of the crown. Then in addition to these there are tire hundred rolls, the decree rolls, the royal letters, the carta? antiquae, the privy seals and signet bills, the subsidy rolls, the Irish, Scotch, and Welsh rolls, the Almain rolls, and numerous other classes of document which it is impossible to catalogue or describe within the limits of a general review of the English archives. Suffice it to say that every class of records is carefully arranged for public inspection and that full and clear indices render research a matter of little difficulty.

Court of Queeris Bench .—As this court takes cognizance of both civil and criminal causes, the former on the crown side and the latter on the plea side of the court, the records are arranged in the two sections, crown side and plea side. Of these records the most important are the judgment or plea rolls. From the time of Richard I. to the year 1702 they were united with the crown rolls, but at that date they were separated. The plea rolls contain the general proceedings in causes, but the modern rolls are very defective owing to the neglect of attorneys in bringing the records in. The crowm rolls are composed of indictments, informations, and other similar proceedings to which parties have pleaded. Another division of the judgment rolls contains the controlment rolls, which comprise minutes of all the principal proceedings in crown causes, with numerical references to the judgment rolls, where the proceedings are entered at length. Apart from the plea rolls the remaining records of this court are of little general interest. Among their number we may notice the attorney’s oath roll, containing the oaths required to be subscribed by attorneys on their admission, the “baga de secretis,” containing proceedings on attainders

(of great interest to the historian), the contents of which have been admirably reported upon by Sir Francis Palgrave, the enrolment of bails, proceedings in outlawry, the jail delivery rolls, and a mass of indictments, recognizances, and other similar documents. The prayer book known as the sealed copy of the “Book of Common Prayer” pursuant to statute 14 Charles II. is also among the records of the Court of Queen’s Bench.

Court of Common Pleas. —This court contains a far richer collection than the Court of Queen’s Bench, and from the nature of its jurisdiction the documents possess great interest for the genealogist and topographer. Foremost among them is the valuable collection of “feet of fines or final concords,” which date from Henry II. to the year 1834, when fines and recoveries were abolished and “more simple modes of assurance substituted.” “The utility of these records,” says the Report of the House of Commons’ committee on the state of the public records, “to all persons desirous of tracing property and pedigree is unquestionable.” Fines contain the proceedings which have been adopted to convey estates and to free them from their entail to issue and from the dower of wives. Thus we are able to learn the name of the freeholder levying the fine, and if he was married the name of his wife and often of his children, the position and value of his estate, and not unfrequently something about his ancestors. Yet perhaps the chief value of this class of records is that they prove marriages and their issue at a time when parochial registers were not in existence. Few documents show so unbroken a succession from so early a date as these “pedes finium.” The king’s Silver Office books are the chief indexes to the fines, but they suffered greatly from the fire at the king’s Silver Office in the Temple in March 1838. The recovery rolls (since 1834 continued under the name of “disentailing assurances” on the close rolls) also constitute another important supplement to the study of the pedes finium. Next to the collection of fines may be classed the judgment rolls of this court, or, as they are more commonly designated, the “de banco” rolls. They formerly consisted of two parts, the “communia placita” or personal plea rolls, and the “placita terras” or pleas of lands and deeds enrolled; but after the reign of Elizabeth the latter became distinct rolls, containing the king’s silver and fines, assizes, deeds enrolled, and all real actions. The judgment rolls pass through three stages—first, they are plea rolls; then, when the parties join issue, issue rolls; and lastly, when judgments are entered upon them, judgment rolls. The recording of the judgments has, however, been very much neglected, for many of the judgments, instead of being entered on the plea or issue rolls, have been entered on separate pieces of parchment, and thus have given rise to certain distinct bundles called “riders,” in which such entries are contained.

Court of Exchequer .—This collection contains next to that of the Court of Chancery the most interesting and valuable series of documents among the English public records. The most important and most prominent series is that of the great rolls of the Exchequer, otherwise called the pipe rolls. As with the close and patent rolls, so with the rolls of the pipe, it is difficult to state what is and what is not entered upon their membranes. Everything which in former times went to swell the revenues of the crown— rents of various kinds, fines, amercements, profits of lands and tenements, and the like—is to be found enrolled upon them. The accounts of the ancient revenue of the crown, digested under the heads of the several counties and annually written out in order to the charging and discharging of the sheriffs and other accountants, are also to be seen upon their membranes. If a great man was outlawed, his goods seized, his daughter married or made a ward, the account thereof can be read in the pipe rolls. To the pedigree-hunter these records are particularly useful, since they contain the names of most men of property; while to the county historian they are invaluable. Few of the English national archives boast a more uninterrupted suepession than the great rolls of the Exchequer. Beginning in the second year of Henry II., they continue to the present time with but two gaps—the rolls of the first year of Henry III. and of the seventh year of Henry IV. Of the latter of these missing rolls the antigraph or roll made by the chancellor’s scribe is still in existence and supplies the place of the lost roll. At the beginning of this series there is a roll which w׳as long looked upon as that of the first year of Henry II., or by some antiquaries as belonging to the fifth year of Stephen; but recent criticism seems to establish thp fact that it is a roll of the 31st year of Henry I.,—the earliest national document, save Domesday, of any extent that now exists. Another important class of documents belonging to the Court of Exchequer and stored with a variety of information upon secular and religious matters is the memoranda rolls, which extend from Henry III. to the middle of the present century. These rolls contain enrolments of all the weighty business done in the offices of the queen’s and lord treasurer’s remembrancer. Upon their membranes the inquirer will read how writs ran for the recovery of debts due to the crown, how commissions were appointed to seize estates attainted or forfeited to the crown, how goods were seized in the various ports of England for the nonpayment of customs, how the accounts of sheriffs and escheators were settled with the Exchequer, how cities and boroughs made claim to special privileges, and how the numerous proceedings in equity on English informations and bills were conducted. The “brevia regia” endorsed on the memoranda rolls are the most ancient writs of that description in the kingdom; in the earlier periods they assume the shape of letters and contain various wishes of the sovereigns. To the antiquary and historian the collection of archives called “originalia rolls,” which extend from Henry III. to William IV., is of great service. They not only throw considerable light upon the manners and customs in vogue in the 13th and 14tli centuries, but also record the descent of lands, questions relating to crown revenues and feudal tenures, the appointment of various commissions for different purposes of investigation, and other similar entries. The importance of the originalia rolls is also increased from the fact that they contain numerous extracts from early rolls now no longer in existence.

Among the documents of the ancient Exchequer there is much to interest the purely ecclesiastical historian in the collection of ministers’ accounts of the issues and profits of monastic lands in the hands of the crowm; in the pensions granted to abbots and others upon the dissolution of the monasteries, now enrolled among the records of the Augmentation Office; in the accounts of monasteries contained in the chartularies, the account books of first-fruits and tenths; in the taxation rolls which regulated the taxes as well to the kings as to the popes until the survey of Henry VIII.; in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII., which contains surveys of archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, monasteries, and the like throughout the kingdom; in the visitations of religious houses; and in the Wolsey books. To the antiquary pure and simple the collection in the Exchequer which records the history of knights’ service is perhaps the most interesting. The number of knights’ fees throughout the kingdom was 60,215, of which the clergy had 28,015; but, as in process of time it became a doubtful question whether lands were held by knight’s service or by some other tenure, inquisitions were held and each baron had to return to the king an account of what he held. Such accounts comprise the early history of landed property, with the names of the owners and the extent of the estates. For information on this subject the three great authorities are the Black and Red Books of the Exchequer, the scutage rolls, and the subsidy rolls; the Liber Niger Scaccarii, or Liber Niger Parvus as it is sometimes called, compiled by Gervase of Tilbury, nephew to Henry II., in the twenty-second year of that king’s reign, is the most ancient of these. It contains a list of knights’ fees of the time of Henry II., and in many of the returns there appear family names and particulars of the parents, children, wives, and occupiers of the land as well as of tenants in capite. In this book there are also various treaties of the same king, four bulls of Pope Alexander III., and the constitution of the royal household during the reign of Henry II. The Red Book is somewhat similar to the Liber Niger, and contains among other entries the oaths of the different officers of the Court of Exchequer; the Dialogus de Scaccario (formerly ascribed to Gervase of Tilbury, but clearly proved by Madox to have been written by Richard FitzNigel, at one time treasurer of the Exchequer, who held the see of London from 1189 to 1198); numerous short memoranda, &c., for the instruction and use of the officials; and collections of knights’ fees and serjeanties of the reigns of Henry II., Richard I., John, and Henry III. Many of its entries are also in the Black Book. The scutage rolls, which begin in the reign of Edward I., contain the pecuniary satisfaction paid by each knight in lieu of the personal attendance upon his sovereign that was required of him. This satisfaction was called “scutagium” or “servitium scuti” (service of the shield), and in Norman-French “escuage,” from ecu, a shield. The assessment was, however, so arbitrary that it was decreed by Magna Charta that no scutage should be imposed without consent of parliament. The subsidy rolls record the fifteenths and tenths, <fcc., granted by parliament to the crown. In addition to the above are the marshals’ rolls, which contain an account of the military service due from great tenants to the king on the eve of a war, the “testa de Nevil,” and the solitary roll called the constable’s roll. Among the more important documents belonging to the ancient Exchequer collection, concerning which space forbids us to particularize, are the records of the Augmentation Court, full of valuable matter to the church historian, the court rolls of manors possessed by the crown, the voluminous series...