Catalogue description Exchequer: Pipe Office: Rolls of Post-Fines

This series consists of Extract Rolls of post fines from the Exchequer, Pipe Office.

They record parties to conveyances of property by final concord, the properties transferred and the amount of the post fine.

These records are a small part of the archive of the conveyance of property by fine, or final concord. Final concords were the result of fictitious legal actions begun in the Court of Common Pleas and were used to convey property. The King's silver or post fines were payable as part of this process. Theoretically they were set at 15% of the value of the land - but the values of the properties returned to the courts were very notional.

The rolls record sums paid in the Court of Common Pleas for licences to concord fictitious suits initiated for the purpose of levying a final concord, to record a conveyance of land. They were made up in the court, and handed over after each term to the Clerk of the Estreats in the Exchequer so that he could include the debts they contained in the summonses of the green wax sent to sheriffs. The entries give details of the parties and the property transferred, and the amount of the individual post-fine.

Alienation Office account books including post-fines are in

Common Pleas King's Silver Books (Series I) are in CP 34

Common Pleas King's Silver Books (Series II) are in CP 35

Some strays from the post-fine rolls are in E 104