Catalogue description Palace Court: Custody Books

A complete unbroken series of books recording prisoners of the Palace Court. Until 1802 each volume is arranged in chronological order of commital, and each entry gives the name of the person committed, the date they were brought into custody, the warrant for their arrest (usually the date of a writ and for whom it was issued, although surrenders in discharge of bail are also common), and the sum involved. They are usually also annotated with the date of discharge. From October 1802 the books are arranged chronologically by court session, and from 1805 they have a columnar format, with columns for 'when brought into custody', 'debtors names', ' at whose suit' and 'damages and sum sworn'.