The Court of Requests was a minor equity court in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

. It was instituted by King

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

in his 1484 parliament. It first became a formal tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, hearing cases from the poor and from servants of the King. It quickly became popular for its low cost of bringing a case and rapid processing time, earning the disapproval of the common law judges. Two formal judges, the "Masters of Requests Ordinary", were appointed towards the end of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

's reign, with an additional two "Masters of Requests Extraordinary" appointed under

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

to allow two judges to accompany her on her travels around England (Latin: ''Regiae Majestati a Supplicum Libellis Magister''). Two more ordinary masters were appointed under

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...

, with the increasing volume of cases bringing a wave of complaints as the court's business and backlog grew. The court became embroiled in a dispute with the common law courts during the late 16th century, who were angry at the amount of business deserting them for the Court of Requests. During the 1590s they went on the offensive, overwriting many decisions made by the Requests and preventing them from imprisoning anyone. It is commonly accepted that this was a death-blow for the court, which, dependent on the Privy Seal for authority, died when the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

made the seal invalid.

History

The precise origins of the Court of Requests are unknown. Spence traces it back to the reign of

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Joan, Countess of Kent. R ...

, Leadam, rejecting Spence's case, claims there is no official record of the court's existence before 1493, Pollard writes (based on documents discovered after Leadam's work) that it was in existence from at least 1465, while Alexander writes that it first appeared during the reign of the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York ...

, and Kleineke states that it was created in 1485 by

. Whatever its origin, the court was created as part of the Privy Council, following an order by the

Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...

that complaints and cases brought to the council by the poor should be expedited. This was as part of the Privy Council; it first became an independent tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, with jurisdiction mainly over matters of equity. The court became increasingly popular due to the lack of cost in bringing a case to it and the speed at which it processed them, in contrast with the slow and expensive common law courts, arousing the ire of common law lawyers and judges. The court originally followed the monarch on his travels around England, visiting Sheen, Langley and

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

in 1494. Under

Thomas Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( ; – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal (catholic), cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's Lord High Almoner, almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and ...

the court became fixed in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, hearing cases from poor people and from the servants of the king. It met at the White Hall of the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

and was often referred to as the Court of White Hall. Towards the end of

's reign, the court assumed a more professional status with the appointment of two " Masters of Requests Ordinary" to serve as its judges, where the

alone had previously heard and delivered judgements. Two additional "Masters of Requests Extraordinary" were appointed under

to accompany her on her progresses around England. Under James I two further Ordinary Masters were appointed, but despite this the court was criticised for the backlog arising from its increasing business. When the court formally became an independent body in the 16th century, free of Privy Council control, it immediately became vulnerable to attack by the common-law courts, which asserted that it had no formal jurisdiction and that the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

was an appropriate equitable body for cases. It was technically true that the court, as it was no longer part of the Privy Council, could not claim jurisdiction based on tradition, but in 1597 Sir Julius Caesar (then a Master of Requests Ordinary) gave examples of times when the common law courts had recognised the Court of Requests' jurisdiction as recently as 1585. The common law courts change of heart was undoubtedly due to the large amount of business deserting them for the Court of Requests, and in 1590 they went on the offensive; writs of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

'' were issued for people imprisoned for contempt of court in the Requests, judgments were issued in cases the Court of Requests were dealing with and it was decided that jailing an individual based on a writ from the Court of Requests constituted false imprisonment. Most academics accept that the court never recovered from these blows, and when the

made the privy seal inoperative, the court "died a natural death". The post of Master of Requests was abolished in 1685.

Other courts of requests

City of London

Another court of requests was by act of the Common Council of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

on 1 February 1518. It had jurisdiction over small debts under 40

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s between citizens and tradesmen of the City of London. The judges of the court were two

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...

and four ancient discreet commoners. It was also called the Court of Conscience in the Guild Hall, where it met. Under James I, acts of Parliament were passed regulating its procedure, the ( 1 Jas. 1. c. 14) and the ( 3 Jas. 1. c. 15). These were the first acts of Parliament that gave validity to a court of requests.

Elsewhere in England

In the 18th and early 19th century small claims courts were established in various parts of England called "court of requests". The first of these was founded in Southwark by the ( 22 Geo. 2. c. 47).Leadam (1898) p. liv They were abolished by the County Courts Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. 95).

References

Bibliography