Catalogue description Palatinate of Chester: Exchequer of Chester: Fee Books

This series consists of eight day-books recording the payment of fees in the Chester Exchequer. CHES 6/1-6 record fees paid for the sealing of all palatinate documents proceeding from the Exchequer from 1598 to 1662. CHES 6/7-8 record fees paid in relation to the production of documents in equity proceedings in the Exchequer Court of the Palatinate of Chester from 1605 to 1665.

CHES 6/1-6
The great majority of entries record the sealing of documents arising from equity proceedings in the Chester Exchequer Court. The most common is the writ summoning defendants to appear to answer a complaint filed with the court as in the following example: "xjo Die Subp ad se Rici Robinson uss Radu Venables et al r xviijo die ijs vjd". Expanded this would be: "xjo Die Subpena ad sectam Ricardi Robinson uersus Radulfum Venables et alius responsalis xviijo die ijs vjd."

Here, Ralph Venables and another unnamed person are required to answer by, or on, 18th of the month the subpoena issued on 11th at the suit of Richard Robinson. The cost of the seal was 2s 6d charged to Robinson. If the defendant called did not appear he was again ordered to do so under a process named an attachment or more strongly, an attachment with proclamation.

There are records of many such writs being issued by the Exchequer. Often writs were addressed to the sheriff of Chester or one of his bailiffs, ordering them to arrest defendants or undertake some other duties. The court also authorised, by commission, leading men in the localities to act on its behalf, mainly to receive the answers of defendants who could not appear in Chester, or to take the depositions (or evidence) of witnesses called by the parties to a suit. The issuing of commissions was also recorded in the fee book. There were standard charges for different types of seals, the majority being 2s 6d.

Occasionally no fee was charged. When this occurred an explanatory annotation was made instead of the amount normally charged. The most common of these were paup' or pauper, pro Rex/Regina and privileg'. The first recorded the fact that the plaintiff was too poor to be charged, the second that the process was issued on behalf of the crown, and the last that it was issued on behalf of an officer of the palatinate, in all of which cases the fee was waived. Throughout the books periodic totals of the fees collected are made in the margins.

However, apart from the equity proceedings there are many notes of other types of documents which were sealed. This is not surprising for the Chester Exchequer acted as the Chancery or secretariat for the whole palatinate and all palatinate documents were sealed there. It is clear that CHES 6/1-6 are fee books of the palatinate seal and are properly records of the Chester Exchequer itself rather than of the equity court which by the early modern period had become the main focus of its activity.

Among other records encountered are the following: writs of diem clausit extremum directed to the escheator (to hold inquisitions post mortem); letters patent of grants of offices and exemplifications of other documents.

Throughout the volumes (CHES 6/1-6 only) there are many headings which begin "Exitus (or proficia) sigilli scaccarii Comitat' Palatin' Cestrie". These make clear that the books are a record of the fees charged for the application of the palatinate seal to documents which required it. These main headings usually occur either at 25 March, Lady Day, the normal date for the beginning of a new calendar year, or 29 September, Michaelmas, the beginning of a new accounting year.

It should be noted that the books also record fees for sealing documents relating to the county of Flint which was administered as part of the palatinate. The records do not form a continuous series across the whole range of years, there are gaps. Also, within individual books there may occasionally be pages missing or damaged from what otherwise appear to be complete sections.

Conversely, some records are duplicated. Throughout the books are odd pages of clerks' notes, jottings or scribblings. These are often the last pages of what were originally separate paper books. Sometimes brief financial accounts appear. Similar information may sometimes be found on sheets of paper folded between the leaves of the books.

CHES 6/7-8
A heading at the beginning of CHES 6/7 (f 1) indicates that the books are a record of the fees taken in the Chester Exchequer Court for the production of certain documents relating to equity suits being heard by that court. Unlike the first six pieces in this series, there are no non-equity records referred to in CHES 6/7-8.

The year and month are recorded at the top of each page while the day is noted in the left hand margin. The entries consist of a brief one line note of the type of document produced, the party for which it was produced, and the fee charged for its production. For example "copia bille pro Beckett xxd, copia bille pro harrop iijs." From this it would appear that some of the fees depended on the size of the document being written rather than a flat rate as in the fees for sealing above. The entries are written in heavily abbreviated Latin.

The entries can be divided into three broad categories:

• 1. Original documents issued by the court: e.g., orders, decrees and rulings; sureties and bonds; commissions.
• 2. Copies of the above.
• 3. Copies of documents originating from the parties: i.e., pleadings.