Legal formulary and related texts, undated, 17th century-1718

This manuscript legal book, soft bound and covered with a fragment of medieval liturgical manuscript, contains some 80 pages of manuscript text. The volume is written in several different hands and at some point, it has been inverted and blank pages at the back have been used. The main part of the text contains details of legal cases while the rear portion contains notes from official and historical records. A loose list of the names of sheriffs of Essex from 1661 to 1718 survives inside the front cover.

Several pages of dated memoranda by George Andrewes are included, from 1668 to 1710, particularly concerning political events and appointments, deaths and other events involving senior legal officers. The final entries appear to be by Andrewes' son, and include a description of the Aurora Borealis on 6 March 1716.

The origin and history of the collection of material in this volume has not been fully recorded. It appears to have fulfilled different purposes at different times and several hands were involved in its creation. The common theme is court action or legal precedent, particularly in the county of Essex. The compilers were probably men engaged in the practice of law and the earliest cases recorded appear to date from the reign of James I. The medieval liturgical fragment in which the texts have been bound has not been identified, but suggests an early date for the physical creation of the volume.

Two names of ownership are recorded on the volume. Henry Agas gives his name with the data 1709, but nothing further is known of him. The name 'George Andrewes junior' appears on the inverted back page of the volume, and a note in the volume states that George Andrewes, father of the writer, died on 24 May 1710, only days after his last entry in the volume. From this note we can at least identify the author of various memoranda recorded in the volume. Whether the writer might have been the barrister George Andrews (fl 1776), who is recorded in Dictionary of National Biography, is not clear.

No archival arrangement has been necessary.

ACCESS: Accessible to all registered readers.

LANGUAGE: Latin, English

This description is the only finding aid available for the collection. Copyright in the description belongs to The University of Nottingham.

REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

COPYRIGHT: Permission to make published use of the volume must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk). The Department will try to assist in identifying copyright owners but the responsibility for copyright clearance before publication ultimately rests with the reader.

It is not known when this volume came to Nottingham from its Essex provenance. By chance it became associated with the Archdeaconry of Nottingham. It came from this source to the Library of University College in 1943.