The Duchy of Lancaster Council and Court of Duchy Chamber The Alexander Prize Essay

R. Somerville

doi:10.2307/3678658

The Duchy of Lancaster Council and Court of Duchy Chamber The Alexander Prize Essay

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

R. Somerville

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The origin of that court of equity which sat at Westminster as the court of duchy chamber has prompted more than one guess, but none of the guesses has reached the truth. Their authors, in applying the Lucretian principle ex nihilo nihil fit and by searching for a definite act of creation, have forgotten an equally profound truth so well emphasised in medieval English history, that few of our great institutions were created all at once, or sprang into life completely armed like Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Most of these writers have seen in Henry IV's accession to the throne a sharp dividing line in the history of the duchy of Lancaster, which in fact it was not. The charter by which Henry IV regulated the status of the duchy in 1399 expressly provided for a continuance of the existing administration.

Another factor in obscuring the origin of this court has been a confusion with the chancery court of Lancashire. This chancery was set up by a definite act in the middle of the fourteenth century and revived soon after; in the course of time it acquired an equity jurisdiction similar to that exercised by the royal chancery. But its jurisdiction was, and still is, limited to Lancashire, whereas the court of duchy chamber had a much wider range. This confusion is apparent in legal works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Coke continued the misconception, with the result that even modern writers of repute have been led astray.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 23 , December 1941 , pp. 159 - 177

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678658 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1941

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^{page 160 note 1} Lambard, W., Archeion, 1635, p. 231Google Scholar, confuses the two courts. Cf. The Common-welth of England (1589), pp. 127–8. Coke, , Fourth Inst. (1648), pp. 204–210Google Scholar. Holdsworth, , Hist. Engl. Law, i (1922), 114–117Google Scholar, includes the duchy court under the general head of the palatinate of Lancaster. He seems to suggest that the duchy court dates only from the beginning of Henry VII's reign (p. 116), but knows it is distinct from the Lancashire court.

^{page 160 note 2} Lancs, and Chesh. Record Soc., vol. xxxii, p. v.

^{page 160 note 3} Ed. Croston (1888), i. 68. Cf. Gregson, M., Fragments (1869), p. 39Google Scholar.

^{page 160 note 4} 2 Lev. 24.

^{page 160 note 5} The bishop of Durham (Lapsley, G. T., County palatine of Durham, pp. 138 ff.Google Scholar) and the Black Prince (Margaret Sharp apud Tout, Chapters, v. 370 ff.). Cf. MissLevett, in Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. (1924)Google Scholar for the council of the abbot of St. Albans.

^{page 161 note 1} Perrot, E., Les Institutions publiques et privées de l'ancienne France (1935), p, 289Google Scholar: Adams, G. B., Council and courts in Anglo-Norman England (1926), p. xxiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 161 note 2} Levett, A. E. in Mélanges Lot (1925), p. 423Google Scholar. For the honorial court, Ault, W. O., Private jurisdiction in England (1923), p. 2Google Scholar, and especially Stenton, F. M., English feudalism 1066–1166 (1932), chap. iiGoogle Scholar. Miss Levett was primarily concerned with the influence of baronial courts on manorial courts.

^{page 161 note 3} Rot. Parl., iii. 285.

^{page 162 note 1} Baldwin, J. F. in E.H.R., xlii. 187Google Scholar. Trokelowe (Rolls Series), p. 73.

^{page 162 note 2} Duchy of Lanc. Misc. 9/4 ms. 44 and 26. Unless otherwise stated, references to records are to the duchy records in P.R.O.

^{page 162 note 3} Misc. Books 2 fo. 398b and Ibid., 1 fo. 89b.

^{page 162 note 4} Dep. Keeper's Rept., xxxii. 339.

^{page 162 note 5} Misc. Books 11 fo. 67.

^{page 163 note 1} Register I (Register 1371–1375), ed. S. Armitage-Smith, Camden 3 Ser., vols, xx, xxi; Register II (Register 1379–1383), ed. Eleanor Lodge and R. Somerville, Camden 3 Ser., vols, lvi, lvii.

^{page 163 note 2} Register I, no. 412.

^{page 163 note 3} Pal. Lancs. Warr. 1/102.

^{page 163 note 4} Sir Roger Kirkton. In 1386 Sir Thomas Percy the uncle (later earl of Worcester) was a councillor. Misc. Books 15 fo. 50b. I do not find him as an officer.

^{page 163 note 5} Pal. Lancs. Warr. 1/168 (1378). Cf. William Despaigne, feodary, Ibid., 180.

^{page 164 note 1} Pal. Lancs. Warr. 1.

^{page 164 note 2} Ibid., 69.

^{page 164 note 3} Register II, no. 899.

^{page 164 note 4} Ibid., no. 1245; Pal. Lanc. Warr. 1/69.

^{page 164 note 5} Register I, no. 358: “ nous eiesmes ordeigne … d'estre de nostre counseil”.

^{page 165 note 1} Register I, no. 730.

^{page 165 note 2} Misc. Books 2 fo. 490b (1327).

^{page 165 note 3} Register I, no. 1382.

^{page 165 note 4} Ibid., no. 1395.

^{page 165 note 5} Dealing with the Black Prince's establishment Dr. Sharp implies that the great and the privy council were the same, but the privy council met in secret (Tout, , Chapters, v. 382Google Scholar). Armitage-Smith's reference to a privy council of John of Gaunt is due to a misunderstanding of the phrase “ de nostre privé conseil ”.

^{page 166 note 1} Register II, nos. 781; 303, 308, 322, 713; 319; 1072; 1045. Cf. Pal. Lancs. Chanc. Misc. 154/6 m. 120 (1385), the justices in Lanes, not to proceed in a certain matter without assent of the duke and his great council. This is endorsed on a bill: the mandate issued under the great seal of the county palatine on the authority of a writ of the duke's privy seal (Pal. Lancs. Chanc. Misc. 154/6 m. 121) makes no mention of the great council, Dep. Keeper's Rep., xxxii. 359, no. 108, i.e. D. L. Chanc. Rolls 3 m. 21.

^{page 166 note 2} Register II, no. 289.

^{page 166 note 3} Ibid., nos. 663, 621, 633. After 1399 there are two references to these sessions being held by the great council: Misc. Books 16 fo. 72 (1411) and Chancery Rolls 9 m. 3 (1442). The sessions in Wales were called the great sessions, to distinguish them from the courts held by the stewards. There are several instances of council members going to the country on judicial business (oyer and terminer at Higham Ferrers, Register I, no. 1250, nisi prius at Horncastle, Register II, no. 675, and cf. session at Lancaster Register I, no. 1684). Discussions between John of Gaunt's council and, for instance, the council of the abbot of Burton-on-Trent (Reg. I, no. 1310) point to activity of the legal element—the “ counsel ” par excellence.

^{page 166 note 4} Pal. Lancs. Warr. 1/37, and Register II, no. 1235. Cf. Pal. Lancs. Warr. 1/78 (7 Ric. II) for great council in Bowland.

^{page 167 note 1} Register I, nos. 1640–1, 1744; Register II, nos. 187, 197, 318, 1109, etc.

^{page 167 note 2} References to such visits are frequent, not only in the two registers, e.g. Pal. Lancs. Chanc. Misc. 154/3 m. 54 (Lancashire), Misc. Books 16 fo. 93 (Pontefract), Rentals and Surveys 15/1 (Leicester), and cf. p. 166, n. 3 and p. 4.

^{page 167 note 3} Register I, nos. 1589, 1116; 1590, 1592, 948, 1301; 949 (“nous a donez à entendre ”). For bills see Ibid., nos. 959, 1106, 1285, 1317, 1318, 1358, 1421, 1426, and 1262. Appearance before the duke, Ibid., 1173. Petition by tenants, Ibid., 1262.

^{page 168 note 1} Warrants bdle. 1 and Chanc. Misc. bdle. 154.

^{page 168 note 2} Pal. Lancs. Warr. 1/39, 168.

^{page 168 note 3} E.g. Register II, no. 187.

^{page 168 note 4} Respite, Register II, no. 185: cf. 621, 627. Securities, Register I, no. 1302.

^{page 168 note 5} Ibid., no. 1587.

^{page 168 note 6} Register II, nos 343, 347.

^{page 169 note 1} Register I, nos. 303, 326, 1418.

^{page 169 note 2} Sale of a manor hall (Snettisham) by the council, Register II, no. 1081.

^{page 169 note 3} Register I, no. 947.

^{page 169 note 4} Register II, nos. 821, 253, 795, 766. The council agrees to a grant, Pal. Lancs. Chanc. Misc. 154/1 m. 42.

^{page 169 note 5} Register I, no. 85.

^{page 169 note 6} Register II, no. 823: Accts. Var. 3/2 m. 6b.

^{page 169 note 7} Register I, nos. 1004, 1102, 1640, 1811.

^{page 169 note 8} Ibid., 750.

^{page 169 note 9} Ibid., 1011: Register II, no. 76.

^{page 169 note 10} Register I, nos. 1641, 1744.

^{page 169 note 11} Register II, nos. 1235 ff.

^{page 170 note 1} Register II, no. 70.

^{page 170 note 2} Accts. Var. 3/1 m. 8.

^{page 170 note 3} Ibid., 4, fos. 8, 11, 24b, 38b, 39b: Misc. 10/46: The earl of Derby's expeditions (Camden 2 Ser., 52), pp. 32, 162, 264.

^{page 171 note 1} Consilium de lege, Accts. Var. 5/2 fo. 13b; consilium legis, Ibid., fo. 29b; ceux du conseille, Misc. Books 17 fo. 101. For services of jurisperiti in parliament. Chancery Rolls 9 m. 4b, no. 44.

^{page 171 note 2} Misc. Books 16 fo. 266.

^{page 171 note 3} Chanc. Rolls 20 m. 2d.

^{page 171 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 171 note 5} Misc. Books 18 fo. 111. He was a layman.

^{page 172 note 1} Chancery Rolls 9 m. 4b, no. 41.

^{page 172 note 2} Accts. Var. 4/8 fo. 23.

^{page 172 note 3} Ibid., 5 fo. 27.

^{page 173 note 1} E.g. Misc. Books 15 fo. 109b (Hen. IV), 16 fo. 168 (an award made, Hen. IV).

^{page 173 note 2} Ibid., 15 fo. 72b.

^{page 173 note 3} Chanc. Rolls 13 m. nd, no. 136. Cf. Misc. Books 18 fo. 137b (1440), title to land.

^{page 173 note 4} Ibid., 17 fo. 90 (1414).

^{page 174 note 1} Misc. Books 17 fo. 141 (1418). Cf. a later instance—Spalding priory v. tenants and inhabitants of Spalding lordship, Chanc. Rolls 34 m. 14 (1465).

^{page 174 note 2} Ibid., m. 13.

^{page 174 note 3} Misc. Books 16 fo. 160 (1406).

^{page 174 note 4} The bills were filed (Ibid., 18 fo. 80b); but the files for this period have not survived.

^{page 174 note 5} Ibid., 18 fo. 36b. The usual form is, e.g., Chanc. Rolls 7 m. 5.

^{page 175 note 1} Misc. Books 18 fos. 88 and 143b.

^{page 175 note 2} Attachment, Misc. Books 18 fo. 90, security, Ibid., 17 fo. 110.

^{page 175 note 3} E.g. no. 3 fo. 280 (1506). Selby, W. D., Lancs, and Cheshire records, pp. xxxiii and 295Google Scholar.

^{page 175 note 4} No. 1 fo. 123. The Guide to the Public Records (1923), i. 325Google Scholar, gives the date wrongly as 16 Edw. IV.

^{page 175 note 5} Issue of process, no. 1 fo. 2: bill of complaint, Ibid., fo. 1; answer, ibid., fo. 53b: replications, ibid., fo. 65: depositions and examination, ibid., fo. 109.

^{page 176 note 1} Arbitrators (sometimes legal members of the council), no. 1 fo. 37.

^{page 176 note 2} Ibid., fo. 72.

^{page 176 note 3} Ibid., fo. 76b.

^{page 176 note 4} No. 2 fo. 2b.

^{page 176 note 5} Misc. Books 15 fo. 119b.

^{page 176 note 6} D.L. Min. Accts. 1930.

^{page 176 note 7} No. 3 fo. 51b, “ it is ordered ”, 1486.

^{page 176 note 8} Ibid., fo. 186b.

^{page 176 note 9} No. 2 fo. 124.

^{page 176 note 10} E.g., no. 5 fo. 7.

^{page 176 note 11} The pleadings before the court have survived from Henry VII's reign onwards.

^{page 177 note 1} No. 3 fo. 61b.

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