Catalogue description Duchy of Lancaster: Court of Duchy Chamber: Sealed Depositions

This series consists of depositions returned in equity proceedings heard before the Court of Duchy Chamber.

Each one contains the commission authorising the taking of the depositions, the interrogatories put to each witness and the depositions made by them. The packets are usually annotated on the outside sheet with the names of the parties and the year of the suit. Unlike the depositions in DL 3 and DL 4, these were never opened, the seals of the commissioners being for the most part unbroken. This may have been because the disputes to which they were linked were settled before the final hearing.

Some of the depositions have been opened subsequently. They include commissions and interrogatories as well as the depositions themselves. The packets are usually annotated on the outside sheet with the names of the parties and the year of the suit.

A few of these depositions are in fact from the Palatinate of Lancaster Chancery Court, which are otherwise in PL 10.

Palatinate of Lancaster, Chancery Court, 1471-1875