England Provincial and National Church Courts - International Institute

The Province of York
This comprised the five dioceses of Carlisle, Chester, Durham, Sodor and Man, and York which included England north of the River Trent, that is the counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Flint (south), Isle of Man, Lancashire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Westmorland and Yorkshire.

The Province of Canterbury
This included all the other 23 dioceses, and counties, of mid and southern England, and Wales. The courts for the Province of Canterbury were located at Doctors’ Commons, near St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, not in Canterbury, but had some regional offices as well.

Archbishops, or more typically their surrogates, presided over a number of different courts including:


 * A Consistory Court, as did each bishop, since each archbishop was also the bishop of a diocese within his province. This dealt with a variety of instance causes and appeals for his diocese.


 * An Exchequer Court for financial matters, presided over by a Receiver-General. Gradually other types of work, especially probate, were handled.


 * A Prerogative or Testamentary Court for probate matters.


 * A Court of the Province which was a general appeal (appellate) court.


 * A Court of Audience for first instance complaints heard by the archbishop or his auditor.


 * A Court for the Trial of Heresy which was the court of first instance for heresy causes.


 * A Court for the Trial of Bishops for the discipline of bishops.

The courts had various names in the two provinces (see below).

Chart: Provincial Court Names

In practice some courts did not exist at all times, and some accepted causes not in their designated purvue, so the records are confusing. The researcher is wise to search records for many courts operating at the relevant time period, commencing with the one that is supposed to take a particular cause. The PCC being, theoretically at least, the superior court had jurisdiction in probate matters for:


 * People owning property in England and Wales who died in Scotland or Ireland, at sea, or in Foreign Parts (Pts in indexes). This included stock in the Bank of England or one of the great companies such as the East India Company. Soldiers and sailors comprised the largest number of people who died overseas or at sea.


 * Many Europeans, especially the Dutch, had investments in England and if wills are not easily accessible in their country the PCC is an alternative source.


 * Those having property in two or more peculiar parishes.


 * Residents of England and Wales who had property abroad.


 * All probate during the period 1653-1660, except for a few peculiar manorial courts especially in Yorkshire.

Court of Arches
The name of the Court of Arches comes from its early venue (1280-1666), the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, nicknamed St. Mary the Arches because it was built on arches which are still visible in the crypt. After the Great Fire the court moved to Doctors Commons. The judge was called the Dean of Arches. All kinds of causes could end up in the Court of Arches, including disputed probates, matrimonial and parochial cases and those involving manners and morals.

Scattered records survive from before the Great Fire, and there is a continuous series of records including act books, libels (the plaintiff’s pleading) and personal answers, sentences, muniment books and process books from 1660 onwards. An index and brief description of cases heard at the Court of Arches 1660-1913 (Houston) is easily available on. The records (most of them) are on 13,257 fiches and 105 films, the indexing is a little difficult to get used to (the chart below will help), but the results are most worthwhile. The introduction on provides detailed descriptions of the items.

Chart: Key to Court of Arches Items

Chart: Court of Arches Cases

Scarr has reported on Court of Arches cases involving his relatives in slander (1989), and embezzlement of church money (1990).

Chancery Court of York
This is the appeal court for the province of York. It has records similar to those of the Court of Arches in the province of Canterbury but they are rather complex and are at present undergoing indexing.

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