VII.—Courts of the Bailiffs and Courts of Record.
The rolls of pleas in the Bailiffs' court in cases of debt and trespass
and other civil cases begin in Dec., 1 Edw. I., 1272. They include
afterwards cases of assault and theft. Amongst them is an assize roll
("coram Rege") in 1379. The records of the Sessions before the
Recorder begin, in an imperfect condition, at the year 1508, or in fragmentary notes a little earlier. The Quarter-Sessions records begin at
the year 1564.—(Extracts from these have been printed by Sir Offley
Wakeman in the Transactions of the Shropshire Archœol. Soc.)
There are four rolls of the Court of Pie-powder in the years 1435–6,
1438, 1447 ("Pee Pouderez") and 1453 ("Peepoudres"). Rolls of
fines are noticed above, in the Bailiffs' accounts temp. Hen. VI.
A thick folio volume of copies of recoveries, bonds, &c. in the court
of the Bailiffs and Mayor bears the following title:—"A booke conteining
the recordes of fynes, recoveries, and statutes within the towne of
Shrewesbury; made in the tyme of Thomas Sherer and Thomas
Chorlton, gent., Bailiffs, Anno Domini 1578; wherin nevertheles are
conteined some recordes in former tyme." The contents extend to the
year 1732.
Papers relating to the relief of the poor fill two boxes in conjunction
with highway accounts. The first assessment for the poor is dated
30 Dec. 1580.