Catalogue description Palatinate of Chester: Chester County Court: Outlawry Rolls

This series contains the only outlawry rolls that exist for the Chester County Court. They both cover the reign of Edward IV, one extending into the brief reign of Edward V. The first covers the whole reign (although there is a 'nil' return for the first year), and lists outlawries under regnal year headings, and the dates of the county courts at which the outlawries were made are often given. Where the outlawry was for a criminal offence, the nature of the indictment, whether trespass ('trans' in the margin) or felony ('fe' in the margin) and its date are given.

Where outlawry was the result of failure to answer civil proceedings, the name of the plaintiff as well as the outlaw is enrolled. The status or occupation of each man is identified. It has been suggested that these rolls were created to serve as a means of reference to the plea rolls and indictment rolls, to ease searching for the details of case when a pardon was requested. It is unknown whether such rolls once existed for any other reigns.