Catalogue description Prerogative Court of Canterbury: Court Caveat Books

Court caveat books record the next stage in litigation in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury after a caveat had been entered. The proctor acting for a party who wished to challenge the caveat appeared, and asserted the interest of his client. The court caveat books record whether the matter proceeded to litigation or whether a grant of probate or administration was made.

During the seventeenth century the entries seem to have been made by the Deputy Register or his clerk and the name of the caveator is given. Later each proctor wrote his own entry and the fictional name 'John Thomas' is substituted for the name of the caveator.

As the court caveat books record the basis of dispute between the parties to a cause, they can therefore be particularly useful for studying litigation for the years for which caveat books and acts of court books do not survive or were not compiled.