Catalogue description Exchequer of Pleas: Rule Books

A series of volumes begun in 1811 to record rules (orders) of the court.

The rules cover a wide variety of procedural matters, including bail, juries, entering of judgement, and payment of monies into court.

Rule books were more formal copies of the rougher minute books, the entries in which were subsequently cancelled. The rule books in fact consist of two series, the large carefully written volumes being replaced in the mid-1850s by smaller, rougher volumes apparently of drafts, the minute books having by this time ceased.

These volumes succeed the order books, which nevertheless continued recording some material until 1830. The order books are in E 12