Catalogue description Assizes: Oxford Circuit: Miscellaneous Books

This series comprises miscellaneous books from the Oxford Circuit Assizes including a series of postea books, 1660 to 1864 but with large gaps, noting the names of the parties and the person receiving the postea on behalf of the plaintiff or defendant, often with the date and a signature.

The entries in this series are sometimes annotated with the outcome of the cases or other details, but they do not include the text of the posteas. The volumes covering the period 1771 to 1810 also include many court orders which have been pasted into them.

The process books contain presents by constables, and are often annotated with the ultimate outcome of the felonies and misdemeanours they presented in cases where the accused made no appearance at the assizes when the presentments were first made.

The books of certificates of trial in civil cases, 1876 to 1887, contain forms each of which informed the appropriate division of the High Court of Justice (Exchequer, Common Pleas or King's Bench) from which a case had been remitted for trial at nisi prius in the Assizes of the jury's verdict and the judgment.

The costs books, 1856 to 1888, give details of the costs of criminal cases, including the brief and attendance fees of solicitors, counsel and witnesses. They include information about the occupations of the witnesses. The first Fee Book, 1856 to 1866, includes details of the fees charged by the court for the carrying out of process and for copies of documents such as posteas, but the second, 1866 to 1876, records little more than the names of the parties, although it does also include stamps representing the amount of the fees.