Catalogue description Court of King's Bench: Crown Side: Posteas

Individual filings recording the results of hearings under nisi prius arrangements, usually at the assizes, of cases begun in King's Bench. The main item is a record of the initial proceedings held in King's Bench before the case was remitted for hearing at nisi prius, normally in the assize courts. On it is endorsed a record of the nisi prius proceedings, which should have been added to the record of the original proceedings in the Crown Roll (KB 28). Where it was not, the filing preserves the only record of the case. Attached to the posteas are the related jury panels and writs. The main value of the posteas is to supply information about cases of which record in the plea rolls is either deficient or entirely wanting. Few posteas earlier than 1740 are included. Later in the nineteenth century they were replaced by certificates.

An enormous number of earlier posteas remain unsorted, unclassified and unlisted. Many earlier nisi prius filings for the court survived among miscellanea, both in the original bundles in which they were kept after 1522 and as loose items.

Before 1522 they are to be found in the Panella Files in KB 146