Re: defamation hearing at Archdeaconry Court

Hugh Watkins wrote:

you better learn to use GENUKI

which has this basic kind of geographical / administrative data
(you need old-maps of all kinds too)

google
genuki portsmouth

Sorry Hugh, I don't understand you. Genuki *is* my first port of call for geographically-based information. But that wasn't what I was seeking.

I was trying to put the Archdeaconry Court in its context; how important and powerful it was at the end of the 18th century in Truro, Cornwall. A University of Nottingham site tells me "The Archdeaconry court was only responsible for certain kinds of defamation or slander: those by which a person was accused of an offence under spiritual jurisdiction, e.g. sexual immorality. Defamers who accused somebody of a civil offence such as theft were dealt with by the lay courts." This sits a little oddly with the rest of the offences listed as being dealt with by Archdeaconry Courts:

* Problems with the fabric of the church, churchyard and other church buildings, and supplies of fixtures, furnishings and religious objects
* Problems with clergy
* Problems with parish officials
* Church finance
* Irreverence, abuse and violence by parishioners
* Failures in religious observance among parishioners
* Sabbath-breaking
* Sexual offences
* Faults concerning baptisms, marriages and burials
* Other offences

The same page also says "the significance of some of the offences can only be explained in terms of the religious, social and moral attitudes of the period". Putting yourself in the shoes of someone living in 1787 is sometimes a hard thing to do. The worst the Archdeaconry Court could do was excommunicate you I think -- how seriously would your man in the street in 1787 view being excommunicated, I wonder? Would it affect his standing with his friends / family / neighbours / people he did work for? He carried on having children and having them christened...

--
Daf Tregear
Manchester, UK

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: defamation hearing at Archdeaconry Court
    ... Sorry Hugh, I don't understand you. ... A University of Nottingham site tells me "The Archdeaconry court was only responsible for certain kinds of defamation or slander: those by which a person was accused of an offence under spiritual jurisdiction, ... This sits a little oddly with the rest of the offences listed as being dealt with by Archdeaconry Courts: ... Problems with the fabric of the church, churchyard and other church buildings, and supplies of fixtures, furnishings and religious objects ...
    (soc.genealogy.britain)