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Ancestors and the LawThis gallery does not cover all the law courts and legal jurisdictions that existed in England and Wales. It includes the main criminal jurisdictions, and the main equity courts for civil disputes. It also covers records relating to bankruptcy and insolvency.
The law courts of England have evolved over the centuries. From the King´s Court developed the Court of King´s Bench and the Court of Common Pleas in the 13th century, both of which were based at Westminster. In the 12th century justices in eyre had gone out from Westminster to hold courts in the shires. By the 13th century the judges were travelling out on these circuits to sit as justices of gaol delivery in the counties. To these were added commissions of oyer and terminer (to hear and determine) and courts of nisi prius (to bring the jurors to Westminster "unless before that day" the assize Out of these developed the county assize courts, whose records are now almost all held at The National Archives in series ASSI 1 - ASSI 95 From the 14th century commissions of the peace made up of local nobility and gentry were appointed in the counties. These justices of the peace held sessions which became Petty and Quarter Sessions The division of cases between Quarter Sessions and Assizes was initially fairly arbitrary, and there was much overlap in jurisdiction. Where a case was heard was frequently determined by which court sat first, convenience or cost, as well as the degree of gravity of the offence. From the 16th century onwards it was unusual for capital offences to be tried at Quarter Sessions but, because the law frequently changed the penalties for various felonies (there was a great increase in capital offences in the 18th century), a case which once might have been tried only at the Assizes might later be tried at the Quarter Sessions instead.
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judges came into the county). Early assize records up to 1482 are in series 
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