Nature of Source
Church courts covered a wide and varied array of responsibilities. The records provide a wealth of information and can offer an insight and historical context into the daily lives of our ancestors
Jurisdiction and Responsibilities
Church courts held exclusive jurisdiction over several important areas:
- Probate Matters: They handled wills and estate issues until 1858.
- Marriage Issues: Including marriage licenses, separations, and legitimacy.
- Licenses for Professions: For professions like apothecaries, midwives, surgeons, and schoolmasters. Entries of such licences and petitions were written up in the court act books or in separate registers.
- Church Administration: Sitting in judgement of own clergy and officials as well as managing rates and tithes arrears.
- Recusancy and Non-Attendance: Dealing with Roman Catholics and nonconformists who failed to attend Anglican church services.
- Moral Conduct: Judging parishioners on matters such as sexual behaviour, drunkenness, and other vices.
- Defamation: Hearing cases of libel and slander.
The court also dealt with the ordination of clergy and their appointments to serve in a particular parish, although other church sources should be consulted as the right to appoint clergy was not the sole responsibility of the bishop. It is probable that many of these post-holders would have signed the oath of loyalty recorded on Association Oath Rolls. The oaths were organised in 1696 as pledge of loyalty to King William III following a plot to assassinate him. It was signed by all holders of public office such as MPs, freeman, military and civil officers of the crown, doctors, clergy and most people of some social standing.
Presentments and Court Books
Alleged offenders were brought to court by officials such as churchwardens. Presentments took place every few years and were presided over by the bishop and documented in books of detections which often survive in large numbers. The court registrars recorded the events in act or court books which provide a summary of the case or perhaps a detailed account of proceedings. The citations, which summoned a defendant to court, contain useful information by naming the person and the person’s parish.
Decline of Church Court Authority
During the 17th century the authority and jurisdiction of the religious courts declined as the power of the secular court increased. By the mid-19th century the civil courts assumed the last vestiges of the church court’s power, especially in the case of probate after 1858 when the state assumed responsibility for such matters.
Types of Cases: Instance and Office
Church courts dealt with two main types of cases:
Office Cases
- Brought to court by church officials.
- Covered ‘moral’ and disciplinary matters such as bastardy, defamation, adultery, and failure to attend Anglican services and other breaches of religious law.
- Proceedings were often oral with no record taking, leading to few surviving records.
- The religious law not only applied to the general public but also to the clergy.
Instance Cases
- Brought to court by individuals.
- Involved disputes over defamation, tithe payments, marriage, probate and arguments over estates.
- Written records from testamentary and plenary cases included depositions (witness statements) which contain the most useful information
- The documents were entered into deposition books which were written in English even if other court business was written in Latin
In an instance case, the plaintiff outlined the case against the defendant in a document known as a libel which could contain many names and places. Disputes between people over wills which ranged from arguments over nuncupative wills (wills made orally by the testator) to those who felt aggrieved by their omission from a will were usually heard as instance cases. However, in the absence of indexes it is difficult to establish if litigation took place. A disputed will case may have been pursued further through the equity courts such as Chancery and Exchequer Courts and the Court of Requests and Court of Star Chamber.
Defamation and Bastardy Records
The crime of defamation could be heard either as office or instance case, depending on whether the defendant defamed a religious representative or a lay person. Most instance cases of defamation centred around accusations of sexual ‘wrongdoing’ including premarital sex, irregular marriages and adultery. Many women featured in defamation cases. If the court proceedings involved an illegitimate child then consult the Bastardy Documents which will provide more information.
Higher Courts
Disputes over wills or the legality of a marriage often moved to higher church courts or secular courts who assumed the right to pass judgment. The records can be found at various repositories including:
Challenges
The usefulness of church court records is devalued by several factors:
- Lack of transcription and indexing.
- Technical language and poor handwriting.
- Irregular spelling and heavily abbreviated writing.
- Use of Latin before 1733.
See also
Bastardy Documents
Marriage Licence Records
Palaeography/Handwriting
Wills and Inheritance and Letters of Administration (Admons) (pre-1858)
Where Found
County Record Offices
Local archives may hold records from ecclesiastical and church courts which dealt with various matters including: Probate, Matrimonial disputes and Church discipline cases.
Diocesan Archives
The local diocesan archives may retain their holdings of church court records.
Borthwick Institute for Archives
The Borthwick Institute was founded in 1953 to house the huge York Diocesan Archive, the archive of the Archbishop of York.
The National Archives
Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related jurisdictions, including wills and other probate matters.
Lambeth Palace Library
The library holds the records of the Court of Arches which is the court of appeal of the Archbishop of Canterbury and dates back to the 13th century. The court exercised jurisdiction over marriage, probate and testamentary disputes, defamation, church property and morals of the clergy and laity.
National Library of Wales
The Library holds several important church and ecclesiastical court records such as probate records, marriage licences and Consistory Court records which dealt with disputes over tithes, defamation cases and matrimonial issues.
National Records of Scotland
The archives holds several important collections of church and ecclesiastical court records such as the Kirk session records from 1569-2006, Presbytery records, Synod records and General Assembly records.
Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library
The Archives & Library holds an impressive collection of manuscripts, historic records, photographs, maps and printed books dating back to the late 8th century. Collections including tithe records, church court records and visitation records can be found at the Kent History and Library Centre.
Period Covered
1300 – 1850
Genealogical Value
- Name, address, previous addresses, age, condition, occupation and place of birth of plaintiff.
- Defendant and deponent.
- Names of those licensed to practice certain professions and those accused of recusancy.
- Marriage and probate details.
Further References
- Chapman, Colin. Ecclesiastical Courts, Their Officials and Their Records: Lochin Publishing, 1997
- Chapman, Colin. Sin, Sex and Probate: Ecclesiastical Courts, Officials and Records. 2nd ed.: Lochin Publishing, 1997
- Christie, Peter. Of Chirche-Reves and of Testamentes: The Church, Sex and Slander in Elizabethan North Devon: Devon Family History Society, 1994
- Cressy, David. Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England: Oxford University Press. 1997 (Limited preview available from Google Books)
- Crockford’s Clerical Directory: A Directory of the Clergy of the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Ireland
- Durie, Bruce. Documents for Genealogy & Local History: The History Press, 2013
- Howard-Drake, Jack. Oxford Church Court Depositions 1542-1550: Oxfordshire County Council, 1992 (Volumes covering other years also available)
- Ingram, Martin. Church Courts, Sex and Marriage in England, 1570-1640: Cambridge University Press: 1990
- Morton, James. Sex, Crimes and Misdemeanours: Little Brown, 1999
- Oates, Jonathan. Tracing Your Ancestors from 1066 to 1837: Pen and Sword Books, 2012
- Owen, Dorothy M. The Records of the Established Church in England, Excluding Parochial Records: British Records Association, 1997
- Raymond, Stuart A. Tracing Your Church of England Ancestors: A Guide for Family and Local Historians: Pen & Sword Family History, 2017
- Tarver, Anne. Church Court Records: An Introduction for Family and Local Historians: Phillimore, 1995
- Tarver, Anne. English Church Courts and their Records: The Local Historian, Volume 38, Number 1, February 2008
- Thomson, Andrew. Church Courts and the People in Seventeenth-Century England: Ecclesiastical justice in peril at Winchester, Worcester and Wells: UCL Press, 2022
Websites
Findmypast Article
The Church of England Courts: Hierarchy of the Church of England Courts
Borthwick Institute for Archives
Research Guide: What are cause papers? Cause papers are the papers of individual cases heard in the church courts. The guide gives an explanation of how the courts worked at York as well as a glossary of terms relating to the church courts
BBC History
Church Courts, by Else Churchill
Explore Your Genealogy
Church Courts, by Ian Waller
The Bawdy Courts of Lichfield
What were the bawdy courts?
Durham University Library
Family and Local History Records: Durham Consistory Court records, 16th-19th centuries. Guides to using records from Durham ecclesiastical court.
Scotland’s People Research Guide
Kirk session records
Scotland’s People Research Guide
Church court records
Online Databases
University of Exeter
Court Depositions of South West England, 1500-1700. Explore 80 fully transcribed depositions with original images relating to 20 cases heard in the church courts and Quarter Sessions between 1556 and 1694 across Devon, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
Findmypast
London Consistory Court Depositions Index, 1700-1713. The database contains over 3,000 index records of cases and witness depositions. These cases may involve matrimonial matters such as divorce and separation, breech of promise, arguments over estates and probate, defamation, and “criminous conversation.” Slightly over half of the deponents are female.
University of Sheffield
Cause Papers Database, 1300-1858. Searchable catalogue of more than 14,000 cause papers relating to cases heard between 1300 and 1858 in the Church Courts of the diocese of York. The site includes extensive background material about the courts and a glossary of court terms.
CD Roms
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