Catalogue description Chancery and Supreme Court of Judicature, Office of the Master in Lunacy: Registers of Bonds

Search within or browse this series to find specific records of interest.

Date range

Details of J 103
Reference: J 103
Title: Chancery and Supreme Court of Judicature, Office of the Master in Lunacy: Registers of Bonds
Description:

These are registers etc. of bonds given as security for the administration of the property of persons of unsound mind. They were kept by the commissioners and masters in lunacy attached to Chancery and, after the Lunacy Act 1890, by the Management and Administration Department, otherwise the Office of the Master in Lunacy of the Supreme Court of Judicature.

Date: 1817-1904
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 15 volume(s)
Administrative / biographical background:

The jurisdiction of the property of lunatics has been vested in the crown since the reign of Edward I and its exercise was generally delegated to the Lord Chancellor.

Until the Lunacy Regulation Act 1862 jurisdiction was established by an inquiry known as a inquisition. Once jurisdiction was established a Committee of the Estate was appointed who had to enter into recognisances to the crown by a bond with at least two sureties. In 1888 the Lord Chancellor authorised the acceptance of companies in place of private sureties. The penalty on the bond was fixed and the sureties were approved on behalf of the crown by the attorney general up to 1842 and thereafter by the masters in lunacy.

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research