Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

GROUP 5 - GLOUCESTERSHIRE (AND SOMERSET)
Bristol and Gloucester courts of conscience
5.12 In 1688 the two cities of Bristol and Gloucester were heavily populated and many
“poor artificers, labourers and others”, who lived there and were subjected to
vexatious debt litigation, were getting further into debt and family “ruination”.
Prisons were also filling with “miserable debtors”, leaving the parishes to provide
increasing poor relief. The solution was to remove small debt matters from the
royal courts sitting at Westminster and to put in place less costly arrangements
for dispute resolution.
5.13 The Erecting Bristol and Gloucester Courts of Conscience Act 1688 11 provided
that a court of request or conscience should be established within each city, and
that local commissioners should sit on a weekly basis to determine debt actions
of up to 40 shillings in value (with no review by higher courts). Additionally, the
Act made provision for the rebuilding of Bristol’s Newgate gaol (the county
common gaol) - which had become ruinous, overcrowded and “unwholesome” -
through the levy of a local tax by the city corporation.
5.14 The Bristol court of conscience (which was separate from the ancient Tolzey
court) operated until 1837, 12 at which point it was replaced by a new small debts
court for the city and county. The jurisdiction was eventually subsumed within the
Bristol county court from 1847 onwards.
5.15 The Gloucester court of conscience met in the Tolzey building until it was
replaced by the new county court structure under the 1846 reorganisation. The
building was demolished around 1893. However, that part of the 1688 Act which
relates to the Gloucester court still survives.
GROUP 6 - HEREFORDSHIRE
Hereford county offices
5.16 The county assizes and quarter sessions for Herefordshire were originally held in
the shire hall in Hereford. But by 1814 the shire hall was in disrepair and the
accommodation was inadequate for the purpose. The site of the old gaol (since
relocated) was lying vacant and, with adjoining land, would be suitable for
rebuilding of the shire hall and creating a new court complex with judges’
lodgings. Acquisition and building, however, would involve considerable
expenditure and the wherewithal would need to be found from the county rate.
11 1 Will. & Mar. c.18 (1688) (note the italicised arabic chapter number for this private Act).
The Act did not have a short title: the title used here is derived from the Chronological
Table of Private and Personal Acts 1539-1997 published by TSO.
12 In 1836 the court’s jurisdictional boundary was extended by an administration of justice
statute to make it coterminous with the city’s boundary: 6 & 7 Will.4 c.105 (1836), repealed
in 1882. In 1837 the statute 7 Will.4 & 1 Vict. c.lxxxiv (Bristol Court of Conscience Act)
repealed all that part of the 1688 Act which related to Bristol (but not to Gloucester).
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