Court of Common Pleas

Court of Common Pleas; 15th-c. MS.
Courtesy of Inner Temple Library.

An English royal court applying Common Law to judge civil disputes, it was called "common pleas" to denote suits not involving the King. It sat in Westminster Hall from the early thirteenth century onwards, 15-20 weeks a year. Nearly all civil suits were within its jurisdiction, and it also had jurisdiction over manorial and local courts. The Court of Common Pleas was the chief creator of Common Law precedents. The appellate court for decisions made here was the Court of King's Bench. The Court of Common Pleas was merged into the High Court by the Judicature Acts 1873-75.

Books for further study:

Hastings, Margaret. Court of Common Pleas in Fifteenth Century England.
          Ithaca, NY : Cornell Univ. Press, 1947. ( Repr. Shoe String Press, 1971.)

Maitland, Frederic William. English Law and the Renaissance.
          Cambridge: University Press, 1901.
          (Repr. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2000)

Potter, Harold. An Historical Introduction to English Law and Its Institutions.
          London : Sweet & Maxwell, 1932. (4th ed. 1958)

Van Caenegem, R. C. The Birth of the English Common Law.
           Cambridge: University Press, 1973. (Repr. 1988)

Article Citation:

Jokinen, Anniina. “Court of Common Pleas.” Luminarium.
13 Apr 2009. [Date when you accessed the page].
<https://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/commonpleas.htm>

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