Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/329

Rh RECORDS 311 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 com- menced 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 were 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 king- dom, 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 in- terruption 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 present 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 pre- late, credence allowed to some court witness, grace shown to a rebellious subject, church lands bestowed on begging clergy, negotiations entered into with foreign princes, powers of ambassadors regulated, lands, offices, and ward- ships 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 "litterse 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 collec- tion, as many of the documents containing the proceedings of various parliaments are hopelessly lost. The series begins with the 6th Edward I. and extends, though with frequent breaks, to Henry VIII. 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 con- stitution. The enrolments of Acts of Parliament, however, are of considerable help in the investigation of English parliamentary history and constitute a most important sup- plement 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 coro- nation 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 Nor- man rolls, which relate to transactions in France whilst the English held part of that country ; the oblata rolls, con- sisting 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 the hundred rolls, the decree rolls, the royal letters, the cartse 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 cata- logue 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 Queen's 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 re- cords 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 crown 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 com- prise 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 re- quired to be subscribed by attorneys on their admission, the "baga de secretis," containing proceedings on attainders