Tolzey Court

It was valued by plaintiffs for its use of some aspects of lex mercatoria law, including the ability to try cases in the absence of a defendant and apply the principle of foreign attachment to recover costs from defendant's debtors.

[1][2] It was possibly a development of the borough's original hundred court, which was confirmed in its jurisdiction by the Bristol town charter of 1188.

[4] The earliest surviving record of a case in the Tolzey Court held by the National Archives is one relating to rent of a house in Broad Street in 1476.

[1] The court was probably brought under the control of the Common Council of Bristol by a 1461 charter of Edward IV.

[1] The court was attended by a legal officer known as a prothonotary, who probably played a similar role to that of a modern registrar.

It also adopted the principle of foreign attachment under which action could be taken to recover costs from debtors of defendants.

This was particularly useful where defendants had no recoverable property within the court's jurisdiction and was described by the 1830 prothonotary as a great advantage to citizens of the town.

[7] In cases where the defendant had no property in the court's jurisdiction they, if present, could be detained ahead of trial.

The city's sheriff was designated as the presiding officer of the court, though he took no part in the proceedings.