Advice on locating King's Bench judgments at The National Archives (1804 & 1806)

[Kendra71]

Hello, I have a rather specific question about searching the UK National Archives for King's Court judgments please. I am looking for two judgments, in 1804 and 1806, but can't find either, which has made me think that my technique is wrong.

My understanding is that I look in the docket book (under IND 1) and can then request the correct judgment roll (under KB 122). The cases were:

1. Court of King's Bench, 27th June, Wednesday 1804
Dixon v. Macnamara (defendant found guilty of assault)
This is the Trinity legal term, and 1804 should be "44 Geo III".
The docket book should be IND 1/6302, (44 Geo III, Trinity term to 45 Geo III, Michaelmas term)

2. Court of King's Bench, 23rd or 28th May 1806
Lynch, Esq v. Thompson and Others (defendants found guilty of libel)
This is the Easter legal term, and 1806 should be "46 Geo III". 
The docket book should be IND 1/6305, (46 Geo III, Hilary term to 46 Geo III, Easter term)

I can't find my cases in either docket book though. What am I doing wrong?
Many thanks

[Bookbox]

For what it’s worth, I would have gone about this search the same way as you have done.

You’re presumably aware that the Docket Books are alphabetised by defendants’ names, not (as with Chancery) by plaintiffs’ names.

If there’s any chance that the case(s) might have been heard in King’s Bench on appeal from a lower court, they would have gone to the Crown side of King’s Bench, and not to the Plea side.

As far as I can remember, even when you have the number from IND 1, you may have to order all the KB 122 rolls for any one law-term, because IND 1 doesn’t include all the rotulus numbers, and the cataloguing doesn’t tell you which rotulus numbers belong to which piece. So for 1804 that would be five pieces, KB 122/776-780, held offsite and to be ordered in advance.

If I were doing this, before a next visit I would email Records and Research Enquiries. Explain that even after carefully following the guidance in the research guide you can’t find the cases in IND 1, and do they have any suggestions as to how else you could pursue it. You could suggest they pass the enquiry to one of the Legal Records experts. It can take a while, but you’ll get an answer eventually.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/contact-us/make-a-records-and-research-enquiry/make-a-records-and-research-enquiry-form/

I believe some civil pleas were ‘weeded’ in the 1960s. So before spending a huge amount of time on a further search, it might be worth getting advice (as above) on whether the records you’re after do actually survive.

However, I suspect that the newspaper reports that you’ll have found online may contain a great deal more detail than you will get from any court records that survive.

Sorry not to be of more help.

[Kendra71]

Thank you Bookbox, that is a big help. I'm ready to be underwhelmed if I do find the actual judgments, but I'm hoping for a first name for one of the plaintiffs. It might be that the entry in the docket book tells me what I need (if I can find the entry!).
I'll try your suggestion of contacting the Enquiries team.
Thanks again.

[Kendra71]

Hi Bookbox, I thought I'd follow up after your helpful response. I did what you suggested - contacted the experts at the National Archives, and described my problem.

They've given one solution and one suggestion - 

1. "Although June 1804 did indeed fall within Trinity Term 44 Geo III the relevant Plea Roll may be for an earlier term, as the Plea Roll was created at the start of the court process, not at the point of judgment." Using this logic, they've helped me find the entry in the earlier term's records.

2. For my second one, they've suggested that because there were multiple defendants, maybe it is listed under a name other than the first (I hadn't thought of that). The other option is that it was recorded by the Crown rather than civil side of the court, which means more docket books but might yet provide an answer.

Anyway, thanks for your advice. 

[Bookbox]

Thanks for updating us, Kendra71. I'm glad you had a useful reply from TNA, and I hope it will help you get further.