NRS-13471 | Judgment rolls [Civil Jurisdiction, Supreme Court of New South Wales]

Full description

For each judgment handed down by the Court, a judgment roll, engrossed on parchment by the party receiving judgment was filed by the Chief Clerk as an official record of the Court. In this judgment roll was to:

... be set forth, in compendious manner, the substantial parts of the proceedings; ie, the style of the Court, the Term and time of signing Judgment, the names of the parties, and their respective Attorneys, the nature of the action, the material parts of the Pleadings, and the Judgment of the Court.

From 1855 these rolls were discontinued, by virtue of the Common Law Procedure Act of 1853, Section 158, which stated that:

It shall not be necessary before issuing execution upon any judgment under the authority of this act to enter the proceedings upon any roll but an incipitur thereof may be made upon paper shortly describing the nature of the judgment and judgment may thereupon be signed and costs taxed and execution issued. Provided nevertheless that the Proceedings may be entered upon the roll whenever the same may become necessary for the purpose of evidence or of an appeal.

Despite the discontinuance of the "Rolls", even after 1854 cases heard in court were filed in a separate series from causes determined out of court. Each roll is accompanied by the relevant case papers filed in court. These may include appearances, subpoenas, summonses, rules of court, motions, attorney's bills of costs, etc.

Whenever a case was begun, but was not (for whatever reason) determined in court, the relevant case papers may be found in the series of Process Papers, 1824+.

(9/5193-716). 525 boxes.

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