Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
How to Use this Book xi
Introduction 1
The professions explained 1
An overview of sources 7
Professional bodies 7
A survey of the courts system 9
Chapter 1 Understanding the Legal Professions 17
The origins of the English legal system 17
The coroner ('crowner') 20
Notaries and attorneys 21
The assizes 24
Chapter 2 The Community of Lawyers 29
The Bar 29
Specialisation and local history sources 34
Some early publications 36
Case Study: Staple Inn 38
Chapter 3 The Judges and the Courts 41
Judges: an historical survey 41
Officials in the criminal justice system 48
Civil Courts 49
Chapter 4 The Magistracy 51
The Quarter Sessions 51
The creation of the magistracy 58
Information on magistrates 58
Case Studies: Edmund Tew and H Rider Haggard 59
Chapter 5 A Survey of Sources I 63
The Surtees Society and the Selden Society 63
Coroners 65
Almanacs and biographical reference works 67
Case study: A Leeds coroner, John Cooper Malcolm 74
Chapter 6 A Survey of Sources II 77
The National Archives (TNA) 77
County Record Offices 81
Newspapers and reports 85
Parliamentary papers 87
State papers 90
Case study: A family of solicitors 90
Chapter 7 The Literature of the Judiciary 95
Biography 95
Memoirs 100
Obituaries 102
Case study: More listings in specialist publications 103
Chapter 8 The Servants to the Law Machine 109
Other professions: ancillary groups 109
Administrators 113
Women working in the law 118
Case study: Ernest Pettifer, Clerk to the Justices 119
Chapter 9 Lawyer Ancestors in Scotland and Ireland 121
The Scottish legal system 121
Sources for Scotland 125
The Irish State and its law 132
Sources for Ireland 135
Case study: Writer to the Signet 139
Chapter 10 Approaches and Methods: A Summary 145
Summary of procedures 146
Quick help alternatives 147
Glossary 151
Bibliography and Sources 157
Index 171
