| A |
|
| Appurtenances |
Appurtenances: land, property and rights that belong to
something else of more importance or greater worth, e.g. a house
with appurtenances could be a house with a small garden. |
| Assizes |
Assizes: were periodic criminal courts that tried capital
cases. They were heard by judges who travelled around the seven
assize circuits in England and Wales. They could only set up court
at specific Assize Towns, normally the county town. Worcester was
one such Assize Town, on the Oxford circuit. It is the equivalent
of the Crown Court. Abolished in 1971. |
| C |
|
| Chamber Order Book |
Chamber Order Books were an early form of the council's
(Chamber's) minutes. Early versions are not a record of matters
discussed, but of those where a course of action was decided (i.e.
an Order). |
| F |
|
| Frankpledge |
Frankpledge was an institution in which a tithing of ten
households were bound together and held responsible for one
another's conduct. All males over 12 years were joined in groups of
approximately ten households. This unit, under a leader known as
the chief-pledge or tithing-man, was then responsible for producing
any man of that tithing suspected of a crime. |
| Freemen |
Freemen are granted specific privileges in a borough by the
ruling council of that borough. Criteria vary depending on place
and time, but generally freedom is granted by patrimony
(inheritance, such as son born to a man after he became free) or
'servitude' (serving an apprenticeship). Worcester also allows
freedom to be gifted to notable people. Freeman had specific
trading rights and until 1835, only freemen could vote in
elections. In Worcester, arrested Freemen had the right to be held
in the cells under the Guildhall rather than in the gaol. In 1835,
approximately 10 percent of the 27,000 residents of the town and
suburbs had been granted freedom. |
| L |
|
| Liber Recorda |
Liber Recorda were literally 'books of records', the earliest
Liber Recorda were once thought to have been council minutes. They
relate to the administration of Worcester and the duties of the
Corporation officers, including copies of important documents. |
| M |
|
| Messuage |
A dwelling house. |
| P |
|
| Petty Sessions |
Petty Sessions were courts that dealt with low-level offences,
and were sometimes known as police courts. They are the equivalent
of Magistrates Courts and the case was heard by the Justices of the
Peace, without a jury. Abolished in 1971. |
| Purprestures |
Purpresture is a wrongful encroachment on, or enclosure of,
public land. |
| Q |
|
| Quarter Sessions |
Quarter Sessions were courts that heard cases deemed too
serious to be dealt with by Petty Sessions, but not where the
defendant could be sentenced to capital punishment (or life
imprisonment). They had a limited jurisdiction over civil matters,
such as highways, setting of certain tolls and rates, and awarding
licenses to public houses. The court consisted of three Justices of
the Peace (or a single Recorder) and a jury. They were held four
times a year, i.e. quarterly. Abolished in 1971. |
| R |
|
| Recognisance |
A bond entered into a court whereby a person promises to appear
in court on a certain day, pay a sum of money, or perform a
particuar action. |