Catalogue description Prerogative Court of Canterbury: Files and Bundles of Citatory Mandates

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Details of PROB 48
Reference: PROB 48
Title: Prerogative Court of Canterbury: Files and Bundles of Citatory Mandates
Description:

The main series of citatory mandates issued by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury for summoning parties and witnesses in testamentary litigation to attend the court. Some files also related affidavits excommunications of defaulting persons and relaxations of inhibitions by the Court of Delegates and other related instruments. Often a brief outline of the state of the case at the time of the issue of the mandate is given.

Although the files were variously entitled by the court as processes, decrees, or processes and decrees, they actually contain examples of all forms of citatory mandate issued by the court.

The verbal formula to be used in a given mandate depended on the reason for the summons, the nature of the proceedings and the stage in the case at which the instrument was issued. Proctors and clerks had formulary books which set out all the different types of mandate so that they could choose the correct one for any given situation. The principal categories of mandate were as follows:

  • Original citation, or process: a mandate obtained by a procter at the request of a party to order the attendance of another party so that a case could be heard;
  • Decree: a mandate issued by the deputy registrar on the judge's instructions to summon a party or a witness;
  • Compulsory: a more strongly worded decree issued to witnesses who had repeatedly failed to attend court when ordered;
  • Intimation: a decree with an extra clause warning a party who had failed to respond to an earlier summons that he would be liable to censure or excommunication, or that the case would be heard in his absence if he persisted in his contumacy;
  • Monition: a form of decree normally used only when the court required both a person and some evidence to be brought in, for example, when a party was required to bring in testamentary scripts, or when the registrar of a lower court was ordered to bring in all relevant papers in a case which had been transferred to the PCC.

If a person named in any of these forms of mandate could not be found, a citation viis et modis could be issued as a last resort, though not before all the other means had been tried unsuccessfully. Unlike the other forms of mandate, which were intended to be delivered personally to the individual named, these instruments were to be pinned to the door of his parish church during a service to draw public attention to the fact that he was required to attend the court, and thus enlist general aid in finding him. Only after a viis et modis citation had failed to bring him in would the court proceed in his absence.

Assuming, however, that the person named was found, the mandate, bearing the court's seal, was shown to him, and a report of its contents in English, called an English Note or ticket, was left with him for information. The practice continued even after the court had adopted English as its official language from 1733. The date of his required appearance varied according to the distance he had to travel to attend. The apparitor or clerk who 'served' the citation returned the original document to the court, endorsing it with a certificate giving his own name and the date and place where it was served. In some cases he then went to a notary public to swear that he had served the instrument, and the notary's signature was added in witness.

Cases against all persons in general having an interest in an estate, and those concerning persons dying overseas or at sea, or having property overseas, sometimes needed wider publicity. It was common for the judge to order a decree to be publicly displayed at the Royal Exchange in London for several days to inform interested parties of the nature of the case and the time and place of the hearing. This procedure was also used in some cases where parties or witnesses could not be located.
Date: 1666-1857
Arrangement:

These records were subjected to several attempted but incomplete reorganisations by the registry of the court, presumably intended to make them easier to consult. The result, however, is that the documents are now arranged in a variety of different ways at different dates, and in some cases are badly disordered.

From the Restoration in 1660 until 1721 the processes are usually filed on a termly basis, the documents being threaded on a thong in the order in which they were introduced into the court. In some cases the thongs have broken and there have consequently been losses from those files.

From 1721 there are usually only one or two files per year. When there are two, the second is either for the Michaelmas term alone or for Trinity and Michaelmas. Some former files were evidently unstrung after their creation, and the contents neatly folded and arranged in chronological bundles. Most files after 1761 were broken down, and eventually the use of the thong was discontinued, the documents being arranged (alphabetically by deceased) in bundles which run through the whole year, and the bundles themselves being grouped together to form two 'parts' per year, of approximately equal bulk. This pattern is not wholly consistent, and in some boxes the old chronological arrangement is at least partly employed. When searching for an individual mandate it is advisable to consult both 'parts' of the year. After 1763, the two parts are, in any case, often filed in the same box.
Separated material:

Several files are wanting
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1660-1858
Physical description: 232 bundles and files

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