Catalogue description High Court of Admiralty: Instance and Prize Courts: Interrogatories Files

This series consists of files of interrogatories. An interrogatory, specifically in law, was a question formally put, or drawn up in writing to be put, to an accused person or a witness. The interrogatories were filed in the court by parties to actions in prize and instance causes. It appears that the prize and instance jurisdictions of the High Court of Admiralty were formally separated in about 1660, after which they were heard in their own separate courts.

Pieces 1-25 span the years 1546 to 1733; the earlier files containing mixed business, the later ones instance only. Pieces 26-28, covering 1653 to 1673, are files containing prize business. Pieces 29-30, covering 1588 to 1655, are loose documents mainly concerning prize business. Some related documents other than interrogatories exist in the series.