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present it is rarely if ever used in this sense. Recognizances are now used almost solely with reference to criminal proceedings. In the Court of See also:

CHANCERY

Chancery it was the practice to require recognizances from the See also:

GUARDIAN

guardian of a See also:

ward of court that the ward should not marry or leave the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country with the privity of the guardian and without the leave of the court. The See also:

SECURITY (Lat. securus, free from care, safe)

security given by a See also:

RECEIVER

receiver appointed by the High Court is still in the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of a recognizance acknowledging a debt to named See also:

OFFICERS

officers of the court, and securing it on the real and personal See also:

ESTATE (through O. Fr. estat, mod. flat, from Lat. status, state, condition, position, stare, to stand)

estate of the receiver. By an act of 136o (34 Edw. III. c. 1), extended to See also:

Ireland by Poyning's Act, and by the terms of the See also:

COMMISSION (from Lat. commissio, committere)

commission of the peace, justices of the peace have See also:

jurisdiction to cause to come before them or any one-of them " all those who to any one or more of our See also:

PEOPLE

people concerning their bodies or the firing of their houses have used threats to find sufficient security for the peace or their See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good behaviour towards us and our people; and if they shall refuse to find such security, then there in our prisons until they shall find such security to cause to be safely kept." The security taken is by recognizance of the party and his sureties, which can be forfeited on conviction of any offence which is a See also:

BREACH (Mid. Eng. breche, derived from the common Teutonic root brec, which appears in " break," Ger. brechen, &c.)

breach of the conditions of the recognizance. The See also:

PROCEDURE (Fr. procedure, from Lat. procedere, to go for-ward)

procedure under the act of 136o and the commission is usually described as exhibiting articles of the peace or See also:

SWEARING (O. Eng. swerian, to swear, originally to speak aloud, cf. andswerian, to answer, Ger. schworen, Dan. svaerge, &c., all from root sorer-, to make a sound, cf. " swarm," properly the buzzing of bees, Lat. susurrus)

swearing the peace.

The High Court (See also:

King's See also:

BENCH (an O.E. and Eng. form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Bank, Dan. baenk and the Eng. doublet " bank ")

Bench See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

Division) has the same See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power as justices in See also:

QUARTER (through Fr. from Lat. quartarius, fourth part)

quarter sessions. This procedure is in practice superseded in See also:

England, so far as concerns courts of See also:

SUMMARY

summary jurisdiction, by an See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent but more See also:

MODERN

modern procedure (42 & 43 Vict. C. 49, s. 25). Recognizances ordered under these enactments cannot be forfeited or as it is termed estreated without an See also:

order of court made upon See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof of breach of the conditions, or of a conviction involving such breach. The procedure for estreats is governed by the See also:

Levy of Fines Acts 1822 and 1833, and by 16 & 17 Vict. C. 30, s. 2. There is also a See also:

general jurisdiction on conviction of See also:

MISDEMEANOUR (from O. Fr. mes- and demener, to conduct oneself ill)

misdemeanour to put the offender under recognizances to keep the peace and (or) be of good behaviour in addition to or in substitution for other See also:

PUNISHMENT (from Lat. punire, to punish, from poena, punishment, Gr. 7rocvil)

punishment. This power is specifically applied by the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts of 1861 to all indictable misdemeanours punishable under these acts, and power is given to put persons convicted of any See also:

FELONY (0. Fr. felonie, from felon, a word meaning " wicked," common to Romanic languages, cf. Italian fella, fellone, the ultimate origin of which is obscure, but is possibly connected either with Lat. fel, gall, or fallere, to deceive. The English " fel

felony (not See also:

capital) punishable under the acts under a recognizance to keep the peace.

On refusal to enter into recognizances as above, the court may order imprisonment for the refusal, limited in cases within the acts of 1861 to twelve months, and in cases within the act of 1879 to six months. The recognizances above described may be described as a form of punishment or a judicial security for good conduct. Recognizances are, however, most used with reference to proceedings before conviction and See also:

JUDGMENT

judgment. In preliminary inquiries into indictable offences the inquiring justices take recognizances to ensure the attendance of the accused if liberated during any See also:

ADJOURNMENT (through the French from the Late Lat. adjurnare, to put off until or summon for another day)

adjournment, and on committal for trial take the recognizances of the accused (if allowed See also:

BAIL

bail) to attend the court of trial and take his trial, and of the prosecutor and the witnesses for the See also:

PROSECUTION

prosecution or See also:

defence to attend and prosecute or give See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence. As to witnesses this power was first given in 1554 (I Ph. & M. c. 13). The procedure See also:

STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

staff; and the system under which the records are See also:

LEFT

left in See also:

LOCAL

local repositories and the staff is centralized. There are of course countries which cannot be brought under either of these formulae. But for the most See also:

PART

part it will be found that the second system has prevailed; there are a central See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

office for records of See also:

state, provincial offices for legal records and those of local' See also:

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve)

administration, See also:

TOWN

town offices for municipal records, and a staff of archivists depending more or less strictly upon the central office. In England the first system has been preferred; almost all the records that can be collected have been gathered into the central office. In the future, indeed, it is inevitable that collections of administrative records should grow up for each See also:

COUNTY (through Norm. Fr. comae, cf. O. Fr. cunte, conk', Mod. Fr. comae, from Lat. comitatus, cf. Ital. comitato, Prov. comtat; see COUNT)

county; but there is at present no means of ensuring their arrangement and preservation.

Many towns possess old and valuable collections of municipal archives, and over these also the central office has no See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control. It would be absurd to affirm that such control is needed for the preservation of the documents; but it is a curious fact that the English See also:

government, which has centralized records more freely than any other, should have refrained from establishing any system of administration for records in general. The following See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article is intended to give a full See also:

account of the administration and nature of the records of See also:

GREAT

Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain, and brief notices of those of other countries concerning which See also:

INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information is obtainable. It may be noticed that the See also:

DIRECTORY

directory of the learned See also:

WORLD

world published by Trubner at See also:

STRASSBURG, or STRASBURG (French Strasbourg)

Strassburg under the See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title See also:

MINERVA

Minerva will be found a useful See also:

GUIDE (in Mid. Eng. gyde, from the Fr. guide; the earlier French form was guie, English " guy," the d was due to the Italian form guida; the ultimate origin is probably Teutonic, the word being connected with the base seen in O. Eng. witan, to know)

guide to the situation and staff of repositories of records. England. The most important repository of English records is the Public Record Office, Chancery See also:

Lane, See also:

LONDON

London, established under the Act i & 2 Viet., c. 94. The See also:

head of the office is the See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

Master of the Rolls for the See also:

time being; and the staff consists of the See also:

DEPUTY (through the Fr. from a Late Lat. use of deputare, to cut off, allot; putare having the original sense of to trim, prune)

deputy-keeper, secretary, assistant-keepers and clerks, with a subordinate staff. Until the See also:

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment of this office, the records of the various courts- of law and government offices were stored in See also:

SEPARATE

separate places, mostly of an unsuitable nature, whose contents were inaccessible and unknown. The See also:

TOWER (Lat. turris; Fr. tour, clocker; Ital. torre; Ger. Thurm)

Tower of London contained the records of the Chancery, which were kept in See also:

FAIR

fair order; the records of the See also:

EXCHEQUER

Exchequer were scattered in many places, chiefly unsuitable; and other collections were almost as unfortunately bestowed: the only See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt to provide a See also:

SPECIAL

special See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place of custody was made in the 17th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, when the State See also:

Paper Office was set up as a place of See also:

DEPOSIT (Lat. depositurn, from deponere, to lay down, to put in the care of)

deposit for the papers of the secretaries of state. From time to time efforts were made, chiefly by means of committees of the See also:

House of Lords, to procure reforms in the custody of documents whose value was well understood. In the reign of See also:

Queen See also:

Anne, an attempt was made by See also:

Thomas See also:

RYMER, THOMAS (1641—1713)

Rymer to publish in the Foedera such documents as could be found bearing upon See also:

FOREIGN

foreign politics; and this See also:

drew fresh See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention to the question of custody.

In 1731 the disastrous See also:

FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire in the Cottonian Library produced a See also:

COMMITTEE (from commute, an Anglo-Fr. past participle of commettre, Lat. committere, to entrust; the modern Fr. equivalent comite is derived from the Eng.)

committee of the House of See also:

COMMONS

Commons and another See also:

REPORT (O.Fr. report or raport, modern rapport, from O.Fr. reporter, mod. rap porter, Lat. reportare, to bring back, in poetical use only, of bringing back an account, news, &c.)

report. But it was not until i800 that any serious steps were taken. In that See also:

YEAR

year a committee of the House of Commons presented a valuable report dealing with all the public records in repositories in England and See also:

Scotland. The result of this committee was the appointing of a royal commission charged with the arrangement and publication of the public records and the control of all public repositories. This commission was renewed from year to year and did not expire until 1837. It See also:

fell partly because of See also:

INTERNAL

internal dissensions, but principally owing to See also:

GROSS

gross extravagance and almost See also:

COMPLETE

complete neglect of its See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty, so far as the arrangement and custody of the records was concerned. The publications sanctioned by it are often badly designed and badly executed; but their most prominent characteristic was their expense. To this commission succeeded the Public Record Office, whose constitution has already been described. The first duty of the new office was the establishment of a central repository into which the scattered collections of records could be gathered ; and the preparation of See also:

MANUSCRIPT

manuscript inventories of the documents so obtained. In 1851 the construction of the central repository was begun; and with the completion of each portion of it further See also:

groups of records were brought in. At first only those collections specified in the act of See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament were dealt with; but in 1852 the State Paper Office was placed under the control of the Master of the Rolls, and its contents removed to the Public Record Office. Other government departments in turn transferred to the same keeping papers not in current use; and at present the only important collections of papers not so treated are those of the See also:

India Office and the Privy See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

Council Office, which are still kept apart.

The publications of the Record Office are of three kinds: reports, lists and indexes, and calendars. The reports are the annualreports of the Deputy Keeper, and now See also:

DEAL

deal merely with the administrative See also:

WORK

work of the office; up to 1889 they also contained, in the form of appendices, inventories and detailed descriptions of various classes of records. In the present article these reports are referred to by number. The lists and indexes are either inventories of special classes with more or less detail, or indexes to the contents of certain documents grouped for that purpose; they are here cited by their number. The calendars are volumes containing full abstracts intended to make the consultation of the See also:

ORIGINAL

original document unnecessary except for See also:

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

critical purposes; they are equipped with full indexes. The contents of the Record Office are classified for the most part under the collections in which they were found. For a general account of the whole, see S. R. Scargill-See also:

BIRD

Bird's See also:

Hand-See also:

BOOK

book to the Public Records (3rd ed. 1908). No student can afford to neglect C. Gross's See also:

SOURCES

Sources and Literature of English See also:

HISTORY

History from the Earliest Times to about'485,which contains much information as to books and articles based upon English records.

End of Article: RECOGNIZANCE (from Lat. recognoscere, to acknowledge)

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