174 THE DERBY MUNICIPAL MUNIMENTS. 



historical matter, but, for many reasons, most valuable to the 

 Borough of Derby. Having looked them through, and 

 roughly sorted them, he tied them into neat parcels. Mr. 

 Strutt then drew the writer's attention to their wretched con- 

 dition — that of damp, excessive and long standing — which was 

 fast reducing this valuable collection to a rotten mass of 

 worm-eaten and decaying rubbish. They consist of Court 

 Books, Court Rolls, Freemen's Rolls, Fair Books, Chamber- 

 lain's Accounts, and other like matter. 



The Court Books and Rolls contain the records of all the 

 cases which have been tried in Derby. The depositions are 

 given in full, as well as the names of those impanelled on the 

 grand and petty juries. These muniments would, without doubt, 

 provide the historian with a large amount of material, both 

 instructive and interesting. 



The Court Book, containing the records in the time of 

 Queen Elizabeth, is in such a state of decay that it is very 

 questionable whether it could be handled without falling to 

 pieces. Certainly, nobody but an expert should be allowed 

 to touch it. Another, of the time of " The Lord Protector," 

 dated 1658, has also been rendered almost unreadable from 

 decay, although that of the preceding year " before Gilbert 

 Ward, Mayor, and James Chadwick, Recorder," is in very fair 

 and readable condition. 



There are numerous lists of Burgesses and Apprentices, 

 sworn in during the eighteenth century, which are most useful 

 to genealogists and compilers of family histories. For the 

 same reason, perhaps, the Capias Books of 17 12 and 1727, 

 etc., would prove valuable. These books, which are in good 

 preservation, contain the writs, or warrants, of Capias. The 

 writs, named from the Latin word " Capias" with which they com- 

 menced, were of various kinds, and were issued to compel 

 attendance at court, to arrest an outlaw, or to imprison a 

 defendant until a plaintiffs claim was satisfied, etc. 



There are also huge bundles of Court Rolls, with writs 

 included, and miscellaneous parchments which would probably 



