| Oct. 25/26 | Geo. Wool. plntff Jas. Little & w??[wife] deforcients |
Fine levied between them of 5 messuages, 8 cottages, 4 stables, 4 coach-houses, 4 gardens, 4 curtilages, 2 acres of meadow land, 2 acres of pasture land & 2 acres of brookland in St. Clements and All Saints [George Wool removed from 5 to 43 High street and Jas Little settled at Brooklands, Halloway place.] |
One of the most curious cases at this court - curious because of the trivial amount sued for was that of Breeds and Troutbeck against James Woodhams, for 10¾d. One would suppose that there was either misconception or great obstinacy on the part of the defendant, and well-assured correctness on the part of the plaintiffs, the word "settled" being written against the case.
As a contrast to this suit for a few pence only, if one looks back to the year 1757, he will find that Stephen Brown was sued by Edward Bilward in the Record Court for £100; and looking back still further, he will find that in the case of Wood v Wells - an ejectment filed by Thomas Adams, the suit was carried on and adjourned from court to court from August 1752, to July 28th, 1753, when judgement by default was given and a writ issued thereupon for possession. Another prolonged case was that of Sarah Morphett, widow, v Austin Luckett, for trespass and assault. It continued adjourned from court to court from Feb. 1752 till Jan. 1755. The advocates in such cases must have been gifted with great forensic ability, and have called up numerous witnesses on each side, or the cases must have been extremely difficult. The names one sees in the official records of this court - especially the later ones - recall to mind vast associations, which must not be here obtruded, the digression being already longer than first intended. The question put to the Town Clerk at the October meeting of the Council in 1856 reminded me that even quite recently letters have appeared in the local press with the enquiry "What was the Court of Record; when did it cease? etc." The foregoing extracts and comments will therefore, in some measure, serve as a reply. And now for the further proceedings of the Town Council.
Railway Ground - At the meeting in October, the Clerk said that in accordance with the resolution at their previous meeting, he had made application to the S. E. Railway Company for the corner of the ground near York Buildings. The Company agreed to take off 35 feet on one side and 30 feet on the other, and sell it to the Board at a nominal price for the purpose of being thrown into the road. He agreed on the part of the Board that they should pay all expenses of paving, &c., Coun. Putland - at whose suggestion the application had been made - had great pleasure in moving the confirmation of the Clerk's arrangement, and Ald. Rock moved that the Company be thanked-
