Catalogue description Duchy of Lancaster: Warrants for the Issue of Judges' Commissions

This series consists mainly of warrants bearing drafts of commissions in the form of letters patent, originally in Latin but from 1733 in English, for the appointment of judges to the palatinate courts, presented to the monarch wtih an explanatory note in English for his signature. The appointments are said in the draft letters patent to have been made with the advice and consent of the chancellor and council of the ducy. They are usually annotated with the date and place (Lancaster) on which the resulting letters patent were granted. The series begins in 1675 and continues to 1875 when the common law jurisdiction of the palatinate came to an end.

The series also includes the draft commission of oyer and terminer for the trial of the Jacobite rebels of 1715 at Preston, and drafts and copies of commissions of oyer and terminer to deal with alleged public order offences during the period of the French revolutionary wars and subsequently, including disturbances affecting mills and mines within the Palatinate in 1842.

For further information about the palatinate courts and their jurisdictions see the PRO Current Guide, part 1, section 326/2/3 and 4