Requests, Court of

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Requests, Court of. A minor court of equity. It was originally a committee of the king's council, set up in the reign of Henry VII to hear ‘poor men's causes’ and causes involving the king's servants. Unlike other conciliar courts, it was not abolished in 1641 but faded away during the 17th cent. The masters of requests were often civilian lawyers who practised in the ecclesiastical courts and the Court of Admiralty. In the 18th and 19th cents. attempts were made to supply the deficiency of cheap and accessible justice by the establishment of local courts of limited jurisdiction called courts of requests. These were superseded in 1846 by the county courts.

Maureen Mulholland