Ellis/Clements Carrickfegus ?Court Case

[DonnaMarie1982]

Hello guys! Im trying to decipher what I think is a court case between these individuals to extend my personal understanding of the Clements family of Antrim.

Any help would be so much appreciated.

The first part is the title here which I cant make sense of

So far I have..

The ?Sounde ?Cusio of Francis Clements Esq ?? the Deft to the bill of ?Comptt Henry Ellis ?aninon by his  ?pro??nary  ffrancis Ellis Comptt?


Thank you so much,

Donna

[Bookbox]

The Severall Answ(er) of Francis Clements Esq(uire) [one of] the Def(endan)ts to the bill of Comp(lainte) of Henry Ellis a minor by
his Prochein amy Francis Ellis Compl(ainant)

This heading shows that the plaintiff is Henry Ellis. As a minor, he has no legal entity and has to be represented by an adult, Francis Ellis, his ‘prochein amy’ (= ‘next friend’, usually an immediate relative). The defendant in the case is Francis Clements, esquire.

For a better understanding of such a court case, you need to start with the plaintiff’s Bill of Complaint, if it survives. This is the defendant’s Answer to that complaint, and therefore not the best place to start.

[DonnaMarie1982]

Thank you so much Bookbox that is so incredibly helpful. I'm unfamiliar with these documents so knowing these terms makes a lot more sense. I appreciate your time.

Francis I believe is the father of Henry which sounds as if it would work in this instance.

There was another document in the same set but I think it might be another response paper rather than the original complaint  - its come from a microfilm at PRONI and I don't think they are in any sort of order.


(Practicing) The Schedule to which the ans? ??  ?? and which the deft. Francis Clement praise may be taken as ?pte office and ?answer to the bill of complaint of Henry Ellis by his prochein amy Francis Ellis -----

[Bookbox]

The Schedule to which the Annexed Answer Referrs and which the Def(endan)t Francis Clements prays may be
taken as p(ar)te of his Answer to the bill of Complaint of Henry Ellis by his p(ro)chein amy Francis Ellis

This is, as it says, part of Clements’ Answer. I’d expect it be a schedule of goods, or a set of accounts, or similar. Is it a probate-related case?

[DonnaMarie1982]

Hello Bookbox, the second document does indeed seem to have a long list of items along with values.

The first document (its very long and Ive only just started working through it) refers often to the Late Edward Clements so I was thinking it would be something to do with his will and a contestation around it.

Donna

[DonnaMarie1982]

Kicking myself now as in my inexperience I may have missed the original complaint in with the papers - Its a large collection and only my second visit to PRONI as its a ways for me to go. I feel I will have to schedule a holiday to go back and look at the earlier documents in the series. 

[Bookbox]

It's easy to overlook part of a case. At TNA (Kew) the pleadings (bill, answers etc.) are usually filed together, and the other parts (interrogatories, depositions, orders etc.) separately, but that may not be so at PRONI.

If you don't have the Bill and still want to do the Answer, I daresay people will help with any hard-to-read snippets. The hand is not too difficult, once you get used to the abbreviations. Is it early 1700s?

[DonnaMarie1982]

This was from a box of family papers, so it may be that the correspondence is one sided in that it will only be replies going one way. The original documents were closed so I was working on Microfiche which I can imagine would be hard to miss things on, the white writing on black background is hard on the eyes after a few hours!! With limited time I was scanning through some hundreds of documents and getting copies of things where I saw family names appearing. It will likely still be useful as I can see further down that it mentions family relationships and I was currently trying to ascertain information about the family as there are a muddle of secondary sources commonly referred to that look as if they were written in the 1800s with some inaccurate information.

I'll keep working down the document (its good to practice so I can gain better skills in this area) and pop it up as it may well be useful for someone else. Any verification is fantastic. Thank you so much for your help and putting some context to what Im looking at.

The first document has 1725 at the bottom.

Donna

[DonnaMarie1982]

First segment (i think my brain is struggling as much with this as it was when I studied Chaucer at A-level. The words I know but put together they are still unfamiliar)

Clements Hill / Mulligan Hill is a townland outside of Carrickfergus.