| Description | The records comprise one volume which contains lists of those eligible for jury service; those assessed for the repair of the city walls, 1608-23; and lists of jurors at each session, 1750-1817. This is a composite volume rebound and probably put together by Mr. Lamacraft and entitled 'Jury Lists etc.' It contains the following sections:
2 and 3 contain lists of jurors at each sessions and is not a register of persons qualified to serve.
1 Lists of persons eligible for jury service and lists of persons assessed towards the repair of the city walls etc. With original parchment cover endorsed with list of contents, now mainly illegible, 1608-1623.
2 Jury lists for grand and party and party juries, 1750-1779.
3 Jury lists for grand and party and party juries, 1779-?1817.
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| Administrative History | A property qualification for jurors was first established in 1285 and an Act of 1692 stipulated that a juror should possess freehold, copyhold or life tenure land worth £10 per annum. After 1730, leaseholders of land worth £20 per annum also qualified. Lists of eligible jurors were compiled by constables for quarter sessions and from 1696, these lists had to be submitted annually to the clerk of the peace. The Jury Act, 1825, limited jury service to men aged between twenty one and sixty who owned property worth £10 per annum, leased property worth £20 per annum or rented property worth £30 per annum. Quarter sessions required the compilation of annual jury lists. |