Custos Brevium

The Custos Brevium was an official in the English court system: in the Court of Common Pleas and Court of King's Bench. The post was abolished by Act of Parliament in 1830.[1]

In the Court of Common Pleas the Custos Brevium served as Chief Clerk, in charge of the officials that supported the Justices of the Common Pleas in their business.[2] In practice the position was a royal favour, and the actual clerking was done by the Custos Brevium's Deputy.[2]

The Custos Brevium of the King's Bench is a much more obscure figure because he was not appointed by the King. The office of Custos Brevium of the King's Bench was combined with the Clerk of the Treasury and Clerk of the Warrants by the 17th century, and there is enough evidence to suggest this had probably occurred by the middle of the 15th century.[3]

List of Custos Brevium of the Court of Common Pleas

In the reign of Edward IV, the post was held by John Fogge.[4]

Term as Custos Brevium Name
23 September 1501 – 23 April 1509Richard Decons
2 June 1506–July 1521Richard Decons and Thomas Bonham
July 1521–18 June 1532Thomas Bonham
24 June 1532 – 11 April 1548John Wellysbourne
6 May 1548 – 27 January 1562William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
27 January 1562 – 12 March 1591John Lennard
2 February 1562 – 20 April 1586Thomas Cecil
22 April 1586–1629Thomas Spencer and Richard Spencer
c.1630Henry Compton[5]

On the English Restoration of 1660, the remuneration was set at £80.[6] The post was given to William Thursby, who held it to his death in 1701.[7] During much of the 18th century, to 1776, the custos was from the Lee family of the Earl of Lichfield, Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield having been given the post in 1700 (?). The second, third and fourth Earls occupied the position, which had been attached to the title, and which typically brought in £1000 annually.[8][9][10][11]

The post was later held by Sir William Eden, 6th and 4th Baronet (1803–1873).[12]

List of Custos Brevium of the Court of King/Queen's Bench

Term as Custos Brevium Name
1543 – 26 April 1573John Payne[13]
? – 27 December 1606Richard Payne[14]
? – 21 December 1608William Davison[14]
21 December 1608 – ?George Byng and Henry Byng[14]
1626–1645Robert Dewhurst and Justinian Paget[15]

References

  1. ↑ Bernard Bolingbroke Woodward; William Leist Readwin Cates (1872). Encyclopedia of Chronology: Historical and Biographical. Longmans, Green and Company. p. 393.
  2. 1 2 Baker (2003) p.127
  3. ↑ Baker (1978) p. 366
  4. ↑ Francis Palgrave. The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. Cambridge University Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-107-62640-9.
  5. ↑ "Compton, Henry II (c.1584-c.1649), of Brambletye, East Grinstead, Suss., History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  6. ↑ 'Charles II, 1660: An Act for the speedy provision of money for disbanding and paying off the forces of this Kingdome both by Land and Sea.', in Statutes of the Realm: Volume 5, 1628-80, ed. John Raithby (s.l, 1819), pp. 207-225 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp207-225 [accessed 16 June 2015].
  7. ↑ "Thursby, William (1630–1701), of Abington, Northants.; Hanslope, Bucks.; and the Savoy, Westminster, History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  8. ↑  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Lee, George Henry (DNB00)". Dictionary of National Biography. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  9. ↑ "Lee, George Henry, Visct. Quarendon (1718–72), of Quarrendon, Bucks., Ditchley Park and Spelsbury, Oxon., History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  10. ↑ The Scots Magazine. Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran. 1776. p. 622.
  11. ↑ A. P. W. Malcomson (2006). The Pursuit of the Heiress: Aristocratic Marriage in Ireland 1740-1840. Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 213. ISBN 978-1-903688-65-6.
  12. ↑ John Debrett (1839). The baronetage of England. J. G. & F. Rivington. p. 208.
  13. ↑ "House of Lords Journal". 1–10. May 1543.
  14. 1 2 3 Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris. Life of William Davison: Secretary of State and Privy Counsellor to Queen. p. 222.
  15. ↑ "Oxford DNB article: Robert Dewhurst (subscription needed)". Oxford University Press. 2004. Retrieved 2008-12-20.

Bibliography

  • Baker, J.H (2003). The Oxford History of the Laws of England Volume IV. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-825817-8.
  • Baker, J.H (1978). The Reports of Sir John Spelman Vol. II. Selden Society.
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