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1936 J. Soc'y Pub. Tchrs. L. 20 (1936)
The Bristol Tolzey Court

handle is hein.journals/sptlos1936 and id is 24 raw text is: 20 SOCIETY OF PUBLIC TEACHERS OF LAW THE BRISTOL TOLZEY COURT THE EVIDENCE T is popularly supposed that the Bristol archives are rich in mediaeval material, but while this, unfortunately, is generally untrue, it is especially so in the case of the borough courts with which I am particularly concerned. Occasional references to these latter are to be found in the Little Red Book, the Great Red Book and the Charters, but otherwise the chief sources of information are pro- ceedings in error in the Coram Rege Rolls and incidental references in the Chancery Petitions. The fortunate discovery' of an early Bristol Custumal in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, has supplied information which, though scanty, is of vital importance having regard to the early period to which it relates. A broken series of Court Books begins at the end of the Middle Ages, and becomes continuous from about 1583 onwards. These are, of course, quite distinct from the records, containing as they do no more than a summary account of actions tried, but even so they are of the greatest value, and if they existed for the mediaeval period they would dispel a great deal of the obscurity now surrounding the subject of the Bristol borough courts. It is, perhaps, worth noting that when referring to the actual records of the courts they sometimes mention files and sometimes rolls,.-the former being the most common.2 THE INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRISTOL COURTS Although I am more particularly concerned with the Tolzey Court, its function cannot be understood without some reference to the other borough courts. It will be convenient to deal with the evidence chronologically. In II88 3 John, then Count of Mortain, granted an important charter to Bristol which provided, amongst other things, that the Hundred Court should be held once a week only. This is the only Court mentioned in the charter,4 and I see no reason to suppose that it originally differed in any material particular from other Hundred Courts, although as the mercantile element in Bristol increased in importance it obviously required to be supplemented. In i255,1 Henry 11I granted that a fair should be held in Bristol on the vigil and feast of St. Lawrence and the thirteen days following. A fair court was held in connection with it as one might expect. The date of the fair was subsequently altered to Michaelmas ; the exact I This was first noticed by Barrett, the Bristol historian, and was subsequently described in detail by Miss Mary Batcson in her work on Borough Customs. All the actual records have been lost. Bristol Charters (ed. Harding), p. I i. Unless the Charter provision . .. and that concerning debts which have been contracted in Bristol and concerning pledges made in the same place pleas shall be held in the town according to the custom of the town . refers to a court distinct from the Hundred. Cal. Charter Rolls, i, p. 442. There is some evidence of an earlier fair as to which see ibid., p. 16i, and Latimer, Bristol Charters, p. 14.

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