A STUDY IN LEGAL ADMINISTRATION AND RECORDS SHARON ...

specific to each action. Handwritten registrar' s calculations, including total
amounts due, appear on dorso side of each decree. Foreclosure books, with the
exception of DI are indexed by style of cause.
Also resulting from proceedings related to mortgage actions was the
decree with reference. Full description of this decree reads "Decree for sale,
with reference as to encumbrances, and orders for payment and delivery of
posse~sion."~' Where the defendant was in default of payment the decree
ordered that "al1 necessary enquiries be made, accounts taken, costs taxed, and
proceedings had for redemption or foreclosure, and that for these purposes the
cause be referred to the Master of this Court?
"Necessary enquiries" were directed towards dismvery of any
encumbrances against the property. The master received instruction to make
these enquiries via a praecipe, a brief written request. He penned his findings in
the "master's report," which became part of the case file. The report
incorporated costs and calculations; therefore, these do not appear on dorso
side of a decree with reference.
Four decree with reference books are extant? Titles are self-
explanatory, incorporating Decree With Reference with the volume number. The
first volume bears the longer title of Praecipe Book With Reference A. Volumes
(1 882-1 895) are indexed by style of cause; case numbers are not provided.
Decree Book C uses paired page numbering.
Mortgage actions generally involved comparatively large surns of money.