BOROUGH OF SOUTHAMPTON 



and recorder being always of the quorum ; but pre- 

 viously to the Act of 1835 it was not the practice for 

 the bishop or the burgess justices to attend. The 

 court had cognizance of all offences triable at county 

 quarter sessions, and also of capital felonies, but seldom 

 exercised jurisdiction in these latter, removing them 

 where possible to the assizes of the county of Hants, or 

 in case of removal being barred, petitioning the Home 

 Office or the judges of the Western Circuit for a 

 commission of assize made out to the county of the 

 town. 



A court of orphans was instituted by charter of 

 1640, which gave power to the mayor, recorder, 

 aldermen, bailiffs, and sheriff to hold the same for the 

 town and county, with authority over their persons 

 and goods, as in the case of the lord mayor and 

 aldermen of London. The court* 77 was obsolete by 

 the middle of the eighteenth century. 



The charter of King John granting the town of 

 Southampton to the burgesses to farm, together with 

 the port of Portsmouth, probably involved some mari- 

 time jurisdiction, by reason of which the town assumed 

 extensive rights before the formal grant of admiralty. 

 In 1239 the burgesses claimed rights not only within 

 the port but in the town of Portsmouth, the claim 

 on the water only being finally maintained. 178 In 

 1285 they destroyed a weir at Cadlands, constructed 

 by the abbot of Titchfield, as hurtful to navigation. 179 

 In 1302 they granted a lease of customs over a wide 

 extent which was clearly identical with the port, the 

 members demised being Portsmouth, Hamble, Ly- 

 mington, Scharprixa (on the east side of the Lyming- 

 ton river, south of Walhampton), Keyhaven, and 

 Redbridge. 180 In 1324 it was set forth that from 

 Hurst to Langstone was within the port of Southamp- 

 ton. 881 In 1432 the customer at Southampton was 

 desired to appoint deputies at Lymington, Newport, 

 and Portsmouth.' 88 The charter of 1451, which first 

 formally granted the admiralty jurisdiction, gave the 

 limits as of old, i.e. Langstone on the east, including 

 the port of Portsmouth, and from Hurst on the west, 

 including Lymington, together with all tidal harbours, 

 rivers, creeks, &c., within the boundary line. All 

 this was confirmed by the last governing charter of 

 1 640. But according to the settlement of the bounds 

 of the port of Southampton as returned into the 

 Exchequer in 1680 the line on the west was drawn 

 from Christchurch Head, thence south-east to the 

 Needles, then eastward to the west end of the 

 Brambles, thence to Hill Head on the mainland at the 

 south of the Southampton Water, and so up to the 

 town quays, and thence up stream to Redbridge, so 

 that Portsmouth was excluded at this time, though in 

 the settlement of that port it is described as ' a mem- 

 ber of the port of Southampton,' as is also the port of 

 Cowes. 163 The court incident on this jurisdiction 



stood upon charters ot 1445 and 1 45 1.* 8 * The 

 charter of 1640 enjoined that the court should con- 

 sist of the mayor, recorder, and four aldermen, or 

 three of them, the mayor or recorder being one ; to 

 these a civil lawyer might be added. Cognizance and 

 power were given in all admiralty causes, with au- 

 thority to choose officers of the court, registrars, 

 notaries, attorneys, scribes, proctors, marshals, ser- 

 vants, &c. , appeal being allowed to the Lord High 

 Admiral. The earliest record' 85 now existing in the 

 town books is dated 14 July, 1493, when the court 

 assembled at Keyhaven ; on 1 5 July it was held at 

 Lepe, when the jury, who presented the rescue by the 

 servants of the abbot of Beaulieu of a Portuguese 

 barque that had been seized on behalf of the mayor, 

 was composed of men representing Hythe, Lepe, 

 Pennington, Ower, Exbury, Hardley, and Cadlands. 

 On 24 September it met at Hamble in the accus- 

 tomed place on the sea-shore. The number of 

 jurors at these courts varied greatly. At Hamble 

 in April, 1 508, it consisted of no less than thirty- 

 six persons, Itchen, Netley, Hamble, Botley, War- 

 sash, Satchell, and Bursledon being represented. 

 From the early part of the seventeenth century the 

 courts were held at irregular periods. In 1707 and 

 1708 they were held at Lymington, the corporation 

 apparently asking leave to erect their booth on the 

 quay, and to carry their oar erect through the 

 borough. 186 In 1756 the admiralty circuit, which had 

 been omitted some time, was ordered ' to be gone ' by 

 the corporation, and the recorder * 87 was to receive a 

 ' handsome grantuity ' if he attended. Before the 

 courts met the corporation of Lymington objected to 

 a booth being erected on their quay for the purpose 

 without permission having been first obtained. The 

 corporation of Southampton replied that they could 

 find no precedent for such a course, but consented to 

 ask, and eventually marched through Lymington with 

 their trumpeter and silver oar erect. The records of 

 these courts are the last in the books. They were held 

 at Southampton in the gildhall on 20 September, 

 1756, when the boundaries of the admiralty jurisdic- 

 tion were defined at some length : at Lymington, 

 xi September; at Lepe, 22 September; at Hamble, 

 23 September. It had been intended to hold an 

 admiralty court in 1798, partly with a view of pre- 

 serving rights ; but it was finally resolved to suspend 

 it ' until the corporation purse shall be so replenished 

 as to admit of so expensive a mode of asserting so 

 valuable a prerogative.' le The opportunity does not 

 seem to have occurred, and all rights of admiralty 

 were finally extinguished by the Municipal Corpora- 

 tion Act of 1835. 



Pie-powder courts I89 were held with the fairs. 

 There can be no doubt that from ancient time South- 

 hampton had possessed a fair.' 90 The most important 



*77 Though granted apparently for the 

 first time by the above charter, the prin- 

 ciple on which the court rested had been 

 long recognized, and belonged to the idea 

 of the gild. In 1562 a burgess bequeathed 

 a piece of plate to the town, beseeching 

 ' the maior and his brethren to be as fathers 

 to his children ' ; Liber Niger, fol. 99. 

 In the same year the same authorities be- 

 came answerable for silver plate belonging 

 to other children, a trust which they 

 duly fulfilled ; Boke of Remembrances, 

 fol. 93. 



* Oak Bk. fol. 28 ; see also Davies, 

 op. cit. 225-6. 



8 ? 9 Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 209. 



280 Indenture fenti Corp. 



391 Madox, Firma Burgi, 220. 



188 Rof. Par!. (Rec. Com.), iv,4i7. 



888 Modern Practice of Exch. (1730), 

 40, 95, 105. 



884 See Chart. R. 23 Hen. VI, No. 22 ; 

 30 Hen. VI, No. 27 ; I Edw. IV, pt. 2, 

 No. 1 1. 



886 Lib. Remembranc. BB. fol. 15$. 



886 King, OH Times in Borough and 

 Parish of LymingKn, 106. 



887 The composition of the court must 

 have been relaxed since 1640. 



888 Town Journ. (Corp. MSS.), 1 2 June, 

 1798. 



889 The Pavilion ' court of St. Giles's 

 Fair, Winchester, should be mentioned, as 

 the Southampton town books bear fre- 

 quent witness to the connexion of the 

 borough with that fair and court. See 

 Davies, op. cit. 243-5. See also Cat. of 

 Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 445. 



*> See Gild. Ord. No. 20 ; but no 

 charter can be produced ; see Chart. R. 

 35 Hen. Ill, m. 10. 



