NRS-2657 | Case papers

Full description

These papers contain all documents deposited in the Civil Court for each case heard before the Court. The quantity of papers for each case varies to a considerable extent. Some cases were very simple, some were undefended, while in other instances the defendant either did not appear or could not be found. In addition some cases involved small amounts of money, while others (especially cases involving merchants as litigants) involved amounts running into many thousands of pounds. There is a corresponding variation in the number of documents which relate to various cases. In some instances no documents at all survive, while in others only a capias (that is a warrant empowering the Provost Marshal to arrest the defendant) remains; by contrast, in the more substantial cases the surviving case papers might amount to two or three hundred pages.

Other than the routine writs of capias and execution (authorising the Provost Marshal to arrest the defendant) case papers may include the plaintiff's memorial (normally a full statement of the case, indicating the grounds of the action), the defendant's memorial in reply, affidavits of witnesses and rules of Court. In more substantial cases, all kinds of documentary evidence in the form of accounts, copies of letters, protests of bills of exchange, and other documents were accumulated in the records of the Court.

Where an appeal was made against the decision of the Court the relevant case papers are sometimes filed in the Court of Appeals: Case papers.

The dates for this series are based upon the contents dates of the State archives held in custody.

All related case papers for the period 1788 to 1809 have been interfiled with the relevant minutes in Rough minutes of proceedings.

(5/2278-91). 14 boxes.


Note:
This description is extracted from Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd Edition 2000.