| Description | The court books are the daily record of cases as they were heard and demonstrate the stage a particular case has reached. Volumes prior to 1541 relate to the Court of the Archdeacon of Chester, normally held at St John's, Chester; EDC 1/10 covers the change to the Consistory Court of the newly-founded diocese. They follow the law terms Hilary, Easter, Trinity and Michaelmas but entries of individual cases are sometimes allocated a sector of a page where the progress of that case is noted. The volumes cover all the usual causes and include office, instance and office promoted cases. Names of plaintiff, defendent and type of cause are given, in Latin until 1733. In the late 18th century a series of 'minute books' appears containing drafts and minutes of cases. These have been listed alongside their appropriate Court Book.
By the end of the eighteenth century cases concerning moral and religious conduct had declined; entries chiefly relate to probate and faculty jurisdiction. With the loss of tithe, probate matrimonial and defamatory causes in the mid-19th century (see Consistory Court introduction) later volumes have entries for the grant of faculties only. Copies of the faculties issued were entered in the bishop's registers (EDA 2). |