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Jurisdictions excluded from the Manorial Documents Register

Records of honour courts are manorial and are included in the Manorial Documents Register. An honour is an administrative unit based on a number of manors, the tenants of which owed suit to an honour court in addition to, or in place of, the normal manor court.

Records of the following types of court (definitions taken from the Oxford English Dictionary) may be found in association with manorial records, especially those of honours. They are not manorial, however, and their records are not included in the Manorial Documents Register.

Hundred court

Court with jurisdiction over the Hundred, a unit of administration between shire and parish.

Wapentake court

Regional term for Hundred court used in: Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Leicester.

Tourn

County court held twice a year and presided over by the sheriff. Sometimes known as great court leet of the county.

Forest court

Courts with jurisdiction over a woodland district usually belonging to the King.

Swainmote court

A type of forest court.

Portmote court

Borough court, especially cities and boroughs in the Palatine of Chester.

Portreeve's court

Court of a borough official.

Pie powder court

A summary court held at Fairs and Markets to administer justice among itinerant dealers and others temporarily present.

Borough courts

A town possessing a municipal corporation and special privileges conferred by royal charter. Some manors and boroughs may have been coterminous for most of their existence. It may not be possible to differentiate between the records of manors and boroughs of the same name. Records relating to borough courts leet have therefore sometimes been included. Other records, such as lists of burgesses, which may have been used for Parliamentary election purposes, have been excluded.