Index to wills proved in the Peculiar Court of Banbury, 1542-1858 / edited by J.S.W. Gibson ; custumal, 1391, and Bye-laws, 1386-1540, of the Manor of Islip / edited by Barbara F. Harvey.

  • Banbury (Oxfordshire, England). Peculiar Court.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Index to wills proved in the Peculiar Court of Banbury, 1542-1858 / edited by J.S.W. Gibson ; custumal, 1391, and Bye-laws, 1386-1540, of the Manor of Islip / edited by Barbara F. Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Notes on Testamentary Procedure Reprinted by permission of the Society of Genealogists from ‘Wills and their Whereabouts” by B. G. Bouwens The usual procedure was for the Executors [Exors. Jor Executrix [Exox.] to take the Will [W.] te the appropriate Court—or the Court came to them, for the Bishop [Bp.] often licensed the Rector of the parish as his Commissary to grant Probate or Admon. The Court being satisfied that the Will was in order passed a Probate Act [Pr.], recorded it— ultimately in a Probate Act Book; probably also endorsed it also on the original Will; took a Probate Copy of the Will; sealed it and gave it to the Exors. as authorisation; impounded and filed the original Will; and sometimes made a further copy in a bound volume of Registered Wills for office use and consultation by interested parties. In early days—roughly to 1600—it was common usage to return the original Will to the Exors. and retain the probate copy—and register copy if any, thus reversing the original practice. In some Registries are considerable numbers of Wills proved but unregistered. One may surmise that the fee for Registration was optional and occasionally resented. In Intestacy the next of kin applied for letters of Administration |Admon., Adcon., Ad. or A.]. The procedure was very similar to that for a Will. “The Administrator(s) entered into Bond to ad- minister faithfully ‘being first sworn upon the Holy Evangelists’ just as were Exors. The Admon. Act was entered—ultimately in an Ad. Act Bk.—and probably endorsed on the Administration Bond which was filed. In early days it was usual with Wills and almost invariable with Admons. to submit an Inventory [Inv. or I.] of the goods of the deceased; and this was very commonly attested by Supervisors named in the Will to help the Exors. Occasionally an Exor. Renounced Exorship. being unwilling to Act. In the case of minors left fatherless the Court sometimes appointed a Guardian who gave a bond of tuition or guardianship which was duly filed—sometimes with the Will or Admon., some- times separately. Properly speaking a Will deals with real estate; land and buildings; a Testament with Per- sonality—any other sort of property, clothing, furniture, stock, farm or trade tools or appliances; bonds, book debts or money in any form. For centuries it has been customary to combine both in one legal Instrument, and in this book the term Will is used for either or both. In feudal days land passed by tenure and personal possessions were few and bestowed verbally by the dying; wherefore wills were infrequent. Partly for that reason and partly due to the violent upheavals of the Reformation, few, or comparitively few W. or A., at least of lesser folk, exist before late Elizabeth. The Civil War again upset all business—it was useless to register the Will of an outlaw and imprudent to deal with a Court which might be repudiated tomorrow. From 1652 to 1660 all Ecclesiastic Testamentary Jurisdiction was abolished and Civil Commissioners in London alone had power to grant Probate or Admon. for all England—thus anticipating by two centuries the Act of 1857. Their proceedings are dovetailed in with the records of P.C.C. thus making that series continuous. None the less there are in most Registries a few entries of that period; possibly—at least in some cases—effected after the Restoration and ante-dated; or sometimes copies of London grants RE-registered provincially under date of the original London grant. Common abbreviations are PPR—Principal Probate Registry, now housed in Somerset House, once Doctors Commons. PRO—Public Record Office, Chancery Lane. PCC—Prerogative Court of Canterbury [sometimes CPC—Canterbury Prerog. Ct.]. PCY—ditto York. Brit. Mus. or B.M.—British Museum. The general role of Jurisdiction was that a testator with Bona Notabilia [Bon. Not.] £5 in goods, wholly in one jurisdiction, could prove therein. If he had Bon. Not. in two he had to prove in the higher over-riding Court. Thus a testator holding solely in one Arch- deaconry or other minor Court could prove there. If in two such, in the Episcopal Court. If in two Bishopricks, in the Arch Episcopal Prerogative Court, and if in two Provinces, in the senior, Canterbury. During the—usually triennial—Visitation by the Bishop or Ecclesiastical superior the lower Court was Inhibited—generally for 3, sometimes for 4 or 6 months jurisdiction residing either in the Court of the visitant or in the usual Court by Commission in his name. During a Vacancy [Vacat.] in a See or other jurisdiction the Court of the Dean and Chapter [D. and C.] or of the Arch Bp. assumed Jurisdiction; occasionally some other Court by particular provision. In many