Court of requests
The Court of Requests was set up in 1483 as a court for poor men and women. As an inexpensive and straightforward means of obtaining an equity
judgement it also attracted better off suitors. Its proceedings were in English and the procedures followed those of Chancery. The court ceased to sit after 1642, although it was never formally abolished.
Pleadings
The Bills and Answers are in series REQ 2
, together with surviving depositions. There are good nominal and topographical indexes to suitors and places up to 1603, an incomplete index from 1603 to 1625 and from then until 1642 they are unlisted. The records in this series are not available online.
Orders and Decrees
There are few surviving orders and decrees so the final out come of a case may not be found. Those records that survive are in series REQ 1.
