Court of Common Pleas: Abstracts of cases

Abstracts, in Latin, of cases in the Court of Common Pleas, compiled in the early seventeenth century. The volume begins with entries of declarations and pleadings in actions of trespass, mostly from the reign of Henry VI through to 1634. Many of the entries date from the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Most of the seventeenth-century entries are from the rolls of Richard Brownlow. The entries are interspersed with painted shields of arms in the margins, with the surnames underneath, added during the eighteenth century. With the exception of the first coat of arms, relating to London, the arms have no apparent connection to the text. The second part of the volume contains entries of declarations and pleadings in actions of waste, dating from the reign of Henry VI through to 1627. These are written in the same hand as the earlier material, and also include many entries from Brownlow's rolls. There are a few commentaries in French towards the end.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

The provenance of the collection is unknown, although the contents of the volume suggest that it may have been compiled in the office of Richard Brownlow (1553-1638), chief prothonotary. The volume was formerly part of the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, MS 25524. It was sold at the Phillipps sale at Sotheby's, 9 June 1898. Purchased by the Library from the executors of G.M. Macfarlane-Grieve, 1975.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.