Podcast: 'An impenetrable tangle or an under-used mine of information?' The Court of Common Pleas and its records, c.1200-1875

The Court of Common Pleas was the busiest court in England for almost all of the medieval and early modern period, dealing with tens of thousands of cases a year at its height, and continued to be an important arena for litigants until the reorganisation of the legal system in 1875. James Ross provides an introduction to the history of Common Pleas, its jurisdiction, and discusses ways into the numerous records of the court. Dr James Ross is head of the medieval and early modern team at The National Archives. He has worked on the records of the common law for many years