THE Court Leet Records OF THE MANOR OF MANCHESTER, FROM THE Year 1552 to the Year 1686, and from the PRINTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MANCHESTER, FROM THE ORIGINAL MINUTE BOOKS IN THEIR POSSESSION. STANFORD LIBRARY VOL. X. FROM THE YEAR 1806 TO 1820. MANCHESTER: HENRY BLACKLOCK AND CO., PRINTERS, ALBERT SQUARE. 1889. INTRODUCTION. HIS volume contains the proceedings of the Courts. Leet of the Manor of Manchester, from the 9th April, 1806, to the 21st April, 1820. The entries in each Court are similar in character to those of the last two volumes (vols. viii. and ix.), and do not call for much. special comment. The following offences are those which came the most frequently before the Court:-Using defective weights and measures, offering bad meat for sale, obstructing streets and passages, not repairing streets, &c.; not fencing off land, canals, &c.; not covering "cellar holes," allowing dangerous and other nuisances, permitting "cotton factories" to be in a dirty condition, emitting large quantities of smoke from chimnies, not keeping pigsties, &c., clean, encroaching on the waste land in the town, the appointed officers not doing their duty, as well as the non-attendance of the burgesses and the refusal of those persons properly qualified to take office. These offences were punished by money fines, varying greatly in amount, and in many instances not enforced, if the offence was not persisted in, or if it was set right. Reference was made in the last volume to an instance of heavy fines being inflicted on those who refused to undertake the office of Constable, and in this volume a similar case may be noted. At the Court held on the 3rd October, 1818, John Drinkwater, Esq., and Peter Ewart, Esq., were appointed Constables. At the adjourned meeting, held on the 21st October, they both refused to act, and the former was fined £20 and the latter 100. The Jury then appointed Mr. James Potter and Mr. John Touchet, but the former refused to serve, and was fined £100. Finally, Mr. John Touchet and Mr. John Lomax accepted the office, and duly took the necessary oaths. (See pp. 47, 53, and 54.) A note at the end of the proceedings of this Court, signed by Mr. Samuel Kay, the Deputy Steward, states that these three fines were duly paid "for the use of Sir Oswald Mosley, Baronet, Lord of the Manor aforesaid." In this respect they differed from those referred to in the last volume, for Sir Oswald Mosley brought an action against Mr. John Stonehouse and Mr. John Railton, the two Constables who then refused to act as Constables (1st October, 1804, see vol. ix., p. 215), which was tried in the Court of King's Bench on the 11th February, 1806. They claimed exemption as being the holders of what were then known as "Tyburn tickets," by which those who had obtained the conviction of any person, charged with committing a capital offence, were freed from serving any public offices. They succeeded in establishing their claim to exemption, and the lord of the manor lost his case as well as the fines of £20 each, which they had been called upon to pay. The duties of the various officers elected at each Michaelmas Court were fully set out in the Introduction to the last volume, and it only remains to note that at the Court held on the 26th October, 1814, mention is there made for the first time of the Court being held "in the manor Court House." This place is thus described in Corry's History of Lancashire, vol. ij., p. 477, published in 1825, which also supplies some information of interest : "The Manor Court Room is a spacious apartment at the end of High-street, well calculated for the purpose of holding the Courts Leet and Courts Baron in. The Courts Leet are held twice a year, within a month of Easter and a month of Michaelmas, at the latter of which the Boroughreeve, Constables, and other Town's Officers, are annually chosen by a Jury, who are impaneled by the Steward of the Court, under the direction of the Lord of the Manor. The Courts Baron are held every three weeks for the recovery of debts under forty shillings. The Court of Requests also make use of this room, and the Sheriff's Court sits here by adjournment every month." Attention has been directed in the Introductions to the last two volumes to the growing importance of the office of Deputy Constable and to the appointment to that office of Mr. Joseph Nadin, whose salary in 1805 was raised to the sum of £200 a year. At the Court |