Records of the Isle of Man Courts of Justice: Inquest Case Papers

The series comprises the case papers of inquiry and inquest proceedings impanelled on the Isle of Man to deliver presentments and verdicts on a variety of matters. Early case papers take the form of bound volumes between 1800-1901; while from 1902 onward proceeding records are kept as case files.

The earliest evidence of ''enquest'' style proceedings occurring on the Isle of Man dates from the late 13th century. However, it was only from the early decades of the 17th century, and under the influence of English methodologies, that inquests proceedings began to take on a more recognisable contemporary form - that is, bodies which could make presentments and hear proceedings.

Inquest proceedings could be impanelled to examine a variety of different matters. As a result, there are a number of different types of bodies of Inquest/Inquiry on the Isle of Man:

- 'Great Enquest' or ' Bing Vooar '- a jury of twelve drawn from each of the constituent parishes of a given Island Sheading. The members of the jury were sworn in and impanelled for a period of six months by the Deemster. During this term jurors were responsible for delivering presentments and verdicts to the Deemsters, as often as required;

- 'Jury of Enquiry' - a jury of four usually impanelled to examine a matter specified via a charge or directive issued by one of the Island's Deemsters;
- 'Trespass Jury' - a jury of four impanelled to examine: complaints of trespass; complaints in respect cutting of trees, throwing down of fences resulting from trespass; and complaints of extraordinary damage to property resulting from trespass;

- 'Long Jury' - a jury of twelve impanelled for a period of six months and elected in the same way as the 'Great Enquest'. The 'Long Jury' was responsible for approving and confirming verdicts delivered by the 'Great Enquest'. In the event that the 'Long Jury' was found to have acted partially, a further traverse to the Keys was provisioned for;

- 'Setting Quest' - a jury typically comprised of four of the Lord's tenants from within a given parish. Each parish had a Setting Quest responsible for assisting the officers of the court in: finding suitable replacement tenants to fill tenancies vacated through death or alienation; advising on the equitable division of joint estates; and advising on the apportioning of rents within the parish;

- 'Coroner's Quest' - a jury of seven impanelled to aid the officers of the court in the examination of the circumstances surrounding deaths occurring within the jurisdiction.

This series is subdivided into 2 subseries, namely:

• S125/1 - Inquest Case Paper Volumes
• S125/2 - Inquest Case Paper Files

This series is partially closed with some records currently being subject to a B2/C2 closure period of 100 years under the Public Records Order 2015 due to statutory data protection restriction laid down in the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please contact the Isle of Man Public Record Office for further information: public.records@gov.im .

For information on visiting the Isle of Man Public Record Office please see our website: www.gov.im/pro .

Please see our website for catalogues: www.gov.im/pro .

Catalogued by Gavin Rowan, Records & Archive Officer, May-October 2021.

Crown copyright for unpublished items - expires 125 years from the end of the calendar year of creation.

Records were selected for permanent preservation in accordance with Part 1 of the Isle of Man Courts record retention schedule, dated June 2018.

Records comprising this accession were created and maintained by the Isle of Man Courts to document inquest proceedings. The records were originally cosigned as temporary transfers under section 3(8) of the Public Records Act 1999 between December 1996 and August 2009. The records were then later fully transferred as an accession under section 3(4) Public Records Act 1999 on authority of the Chief Registrar, 17 October 2019.

Accruals are expected for this series.