Catalogue description Palatinate of Lancaster: Common Bench: Plea Rolls

On 6 March 1351 Henry earl of Lancaster was created duke of Lancaster and Lancashire made into a county palatine, which gave Henry the right to do justice in both civil and crown pleas to the exclusion of the royal courts. On the following day he created four justices, the chief being Hugh de Berwick, for all civil and crown pleas, and from then until the duke's death in March 1361 Lancashire remained outside the ambit of the royal courts. Their first session, on 6 June 1351, dealt with both civil and crown pleas; thereafter there were two courts, one for civil and one for crown pleas. The first, the Bench or Common Bench, dealt with pleas formerly heard in the Common Bench and King's Bench at Westminster or by assize justices in the locality.

The court did not follow the Westminster pattern of four regular terms per year, but usually held three sessions a year, one in Lent or around Easter, between late February and mid April, one in late July or early August and one around the end of September. Sessions at other dates, such as early May and mid December, are also recorded. The court invariably sat at Preston. When the palatinate was in abeyance between 1361 and 1377, common pleas and assizes were heard in the Common Bench at Westminster and by justices of assize.