1. Introduction
The Court of Requests was an offshoot of the King's Council, intended to provide easy access for poor men and women to Royal justice and equity. It was established in 1483, when the Chancery official responsible for sorting petitions from the poor became clerk of the Council of Requests. A cheap and simple procedure attracted many suitors (not all of them poor but a significant number of them women), but also the enmity of some common lawyers. The records of the court cease in 1642. Its privy seal was removed during the Civil War. Although the court was never formally abolished, much of its caseload eventually passed to local small claims courts. Types of case heard included title to property, annuities, matters of villeinage, watercourses, highways, wilful escape, forgery, perjury, forfeitures to the King by recognisance and dower, jointure and marriage contracts.
2. Finding cases in the Court of Requests
Most of the proceedings (individual case papers) are in REQ 2: cases relating to Shakespeare are in REQ 4. Unfortunately, less than half of the cases in REQ 2 have been listed. About half the cases from James I, and all from Charles I, are not listed in any detail at all. It may be possible to find out information about these cases from the administrative and judicial records of the court (see below), but going on to find the pleadings may involve a search through 405 bundles each containing about 100 cases. For Henry VII to Elizabeth I, and for the random half of the James I proceedings that have been listed, the situation is much easier, though complicated by the existence of a number of different finding aids of various vintages. These lists of REQ 2 are not searchable online.
| Monarch | Date Range | Catalogue ref | Finding aids |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henry VII - early Edward VI | 1485-1547 | REQ 2/1-15 | Searchable by keyword on Discovery, our catalogue |
| Edward VI | 1547-1553 | REQ 2/16-19 | Listed in List and Index, XXI, Proceedings in the Court of Requests, (gives parties, subject and place): 1-40 also listed with a little more detail, and some dates, in the lists marked 'Hunt's series'. Indexed in List and Index Supplementary, VII, vol 1 |
| Mary I | 1553-1558 | REQ 2/20-25 | As above |
| Elizabeth I | 1558-1603 | REQ 2/26-136 | As above |
| REQ 2/137-156 | Listed in the manuscript 'Atkin's Calendar', and indexed in List and Index Supplementary, VII, vol 1 | ||
| REQ 2/157-294 | Listed in a further unnamed manuscript list, and indexed by person, subject and location in: bundles 157-203 in List and Index Supplementary, VII, vol 2 bundles 204-294 in List and Index Supplementary, VII, vol 3 | ||
| 369-386 | None | ||
| James I | 1603-1625 | REQ 2/295-311 | Listed in a further unnamed manuscript list, and indexed by person, subject and location in List and Index Supplementary, VII, vol 4 |
| REQ 2/387-424 | Bundles 387-409 are listed in a further unnamed manuscript list, indexed by person, subject and location in List and Index Supplementary, VII, vol 4 | ||
| REQ 2/425-485 | None | ||
| Charles I | 1625-1649 | REQ 2/486-806 | None |
| various dates | REQ 2/807-829 | None |
3. What legal procedure did the Court of Requests use?
Cases followed chancery procedure, using English for the proceedings, with some Latin in the administrative records. A case would start with an English petition or bill, requesting the King or his Council (not the Chancellor, as in chancery) to give equitable justice to the plaintiff. It then continued by answer, replication, rejoinder, interrogatories and depositions. Initially, judges of the court were Royal Councillors, under the authority of the King's Almoner and the Dean of the Chapel Royal. But after 1519, when the court began to meet regularly in the Whitehall at Westminster, the Lord Privy Seal, assisted by Masters and (after 1562), Extraordinary Masters of Requests, headed the court, specifically to determine poor men's causes by equitable means. Local commissions often dealt with much of the business after the defendant's answer was filed, and Masters of Requests based their decrees, orders and judgements on returned commissioners' reports.
4. Judicial and administrative records of the Court of Requests
Unlike the Star Chamber, the judicial and administrative records (in English and Latin) of the Court of Requests have survived fairly well: most are in REQ 1, but there may be some unsuspected material in REQ 2/369-386. REQ 1 includes:
| Records | Monarch | Catalogue Ref | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order and decree books | Henry VII-Charles I | REQ 1/1-38, REQ 1/209 | Orders, decrees, final judgements and, before 1520, appearances |
| Order books | Elizabeth I-Charles I | REQ 1/39-103 | Draft orders, decrees and memoranda |
| Appearance books | Henry VIII-Charles I | REQ 1/104-117 | Records of appearance by defendants, usually by attorney |
| Contemporary indexes to affidavits | 1637-1641 | REQ 1/118, REQ 1/150 | Incomplete |
| Affidavit books | 1591-1641 | REQ 1/119-149 | Signed affidavits (by servers) that process, especially writs of summons, had been served |
| Note books | 1594-1642 | REQ 1/151-170 | Outline records of the progress of suits |
| Process books | 1567-1642 | REQ 1/171-197 | Recording the issue of writs of privy seal, attachments for arrest, appointment of commissions, injunctions, and orders for appearances |
| Witness books | Elizabeth I-Charles I | REQ 1/198-206 | |
| Register of replications | 1632-1636 | REQ 1/207 | |
| Commission book | 1603-1619 | REQ 1/208 | Recording return dates of depositions by commission |
There are also 44 boxes of requests miscellanea, and material from other English bill courts, in REQ 3, which contains documents properly belonging to REQ 1 and REQ 2, as well as material from the courts of Chancery, Star Chamber, and Wards and Liveries, which was stored with Court of Requests documents in the Treasury of the receipt of the Exchequer after 1641. This has not been listed fully as yet, but a list of sorts is available. Strays from Requests may also be found in the records of the Star Chamber.
5. Further reading
IS Leadam, Select cases in the Court of Requests (Selden Society, XII, 1898)
Sir Julius Caesar, The ancient state, authority and proceedings of the Court of Requests, ed, LM Hill (London, 1975)
Tim Stretton (ed), Marital litigation in the Court of Requests 1542-1642, Camden Fifth Series volume 32 (London, Cambridge University Press for the Royal Historical Society, 2008)
