Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

GROUP 3 - DERBYSHIRE
High Peak and Castleton courts baron
5.7 As in Cumberland so too in Derbyshire since “time immemorial” the courts baron
(the manorial courts) had sat to hear claims for recovery of small debts or
damages. In 1759 two courts - for the hundred of High Peak and the manor of
Castleton - had been granted statutory powers which subsisted until formation of
the county courts in 1846.
5.8 By 1805 the hundred and the manor embraced an ever growing population
servicing an expanding industrial economy. Larger disputes (over £2 or 40
shillings in value) had to be tried in the superior courts sitting in Derby, some 40
miles away. As a consequence certain debtors and others sought to exploit the
inability of creditors to access local justice. The High Peak and Castleton Courts
Baron Act 1805 6 increased the courts’ jurisdiction to determine actions for up to
£5 in value and put in place provisions relating to imprisonment for debt and
concealment of assets by debtors.
5.9 Courts baron and hundred courts were superseded in 1846 but their judicial
powers (as opposed to their customary functions) were not formally abolished
until 1977. 7 The Derbyshire county records office hold no archives relating to the
proceedings of the two courts.
GROUP 4 - POWYS AND BLAENAU GWENT
Glamorgan court of requests
5.10 A court of requests had been established by statute in 1809 for the (then)
counties of Glamorgan, Brecon and Monmouth. 8 Its purpose was to facilitate the
recovery of small debts (up to £5 in value) by tradespersons in various towns,
thus improving access to justice for creditors and encouraging local trade. The
1809 Act had made savings for two existing manorial courts: the courts baron of
the Marquis of Bute and Earl of Dumfries and of the Duke of Beaufort.
5.11 By 1834 the court of requests was found both to have failed in its purpose and to
have become “inconvenient”. The Glamorgan, Brecon and Monmouth Court of
Requests Act 1809 Repeal Act 1834 9 ceased the court’s jurisdiction from January
1835 and repealed the 1809 Act from January 1837. The 1834 Act has itself been
partially repealed, but only for Mid Glamorgan, 10 leaving it operative for the
remaining portion of the three original counties. On that basis it should now be
repealed.
6 45 Geo.3 c.lxi (1805).
7 By the Administration of Justice Act 1977 (c.38), s 23 and Sch 4 (following
recommendations by the Law Commission in its report Jurisdiction of Certain Ancient
Courts (Law Com. No.72, Cmnd. 6385), published in February 1976).
8 49 Geo.3 c.cxli (1809), now repealed.
9 4 & 5 Will.4 c.xl (1834).
10 See Mid Glamorgan County Council Act 1987 (c.vii), s 56(1), Sch 2 Pt 1.
152