Catalogue description Court of Common Pleas: Registers of Judgments etc in the Courts of Common Law and Equity

Registers created under the Judgments Act of 1838 to extend the remedies available to creditors against the property of debtors, whereby judgments entered in any of the superior courts were to operate as a charge on estates if they were registered under the act.

The senior master of the Court of Common Pleas was responsible for keeping the register, which included judgments, decrees or orders of Chancery, King's Bench and the Exchequer of Pleas as well as Common Pleas. The registers are arranged alphabetically by surname, and include the address and occupation of the individual against whom judgment was given as well as the details of the case itself.

Registers from 1869 are held at the Land Registry, to which the responsibility for registering judgments was transferred under the Land Charges Act 1900.

Court of Common Pleas, 1194-1875