Our limits will not allow us to enumerate more than a very few even of the more important classes of records. One class consists of the various territorial surveys, begin ning with Domesday (q.v.), and including, among others, the Rotuli Hundredorum, Extenta Manerii, Testa de Nerill, Pope Nicholas's Taxation, Henry VILL's Surrey, and the Surrey of the Commonwealth. Another extensive class belong to the Evehequer, includ ing the Pipe Roll, or great roll of the exchequer, beginning with the second year of Henry IL, containing the yearly accounts of the revenues of the crown, certain and cas ual; the Memoranda and Originalia rolls, records of First fruits and Tenths, records of the Court of Augmentations, instituted to decide questions regarding possessions belong ing to the crown, on the dissolution of the monasteries, and Placita, or records of plead ings and judgments. The Rotuli Cavite Regis contain the record of the proceedings in the ancient supreme court of law; and there are numerous clauses of records of the proceed ings in all the various courts of common law and in the court of chancery. Therecord of Pines and Recoreries is an unbroken record of the transfer of lands from 25 Henry II. down to 1833, when this species of conveyance was abolished. The Charter Rolls are records of charters, of grants of privileges to religious houses, towns, and corporations, and crea tions of nobility from 11 Edward II. to Edward IV. The Patent Rolls are enrollments of instruments written on open (patentes) sheets of parchment, having pendent from them the great seal, addressed to the lieges in general. The Close Rolls are records of such let ters under the great sea] as were dispatched closed or sealed up—royal mandates to par ticular persons for particular purposes, and not intended for public inspection. The Liberate Rolls contain writs issued out of chancery, ordering the payment of money from the treasury. The Fine Rolls contain accounts of fines paid to the king for license to alienate lands, freedom from knight-service, passing or renewal of charters, Nvardships, safe-conduct, pardons, etc. The liVenelt Rolls. Norman Rolls, and Gascon Rolls relate to the affidrs of France, Normandy, and Gascony, when held by the English; and the llotuli Scotia to transactions with Scotland. An important class of the records are those connected with parliament, including Statute Rolls, Parliament Rolls, Records of Parlia ment. and Statutes from 1485 to the present time, with the Journals of the Lords and Commons from Henry VIII. to the present time, and the Writs of Summonses and returns to parliament.
The state papers originally sprung from the privy council and chancery, and include the correspondence of the council, secretaries of state, :old other public depart ments, with miscellaneous domestic papers from the time of Henry VIII. to George II., a mass of correspondence with foreign powers, and an extensive collection relating to ecclesiastical affairs at and after the reformation. Since 1855 the state paper office has become a part of the public record office, and been placed under the control of the master of the Tolls. Much has been done in the way of calendaring and arranging the contents of this valuable repository, and several volumes of calendars of state papers are being issued yearly to the public.
By the regulations established by the toaster of the rolls, July 5, 1858, persons desir ous of consulting the public records, including state papers, for a literary purpose, have to apply in writing to the deputy-keeper, stating the objects of their search, which, if necessary, may be more fully explained at a personal interview, If the explanation be satisfactory, a permission is issued to inspect and make extracts without payment of fees.
public records of Scotland were undoubtedly numerous and multifa rious as early as 1282; but the more ancient of them were lost by shipwreck in the reign of Edward I. of England. The control of the records has from very early times been intrusted to the clerk register, or lord clerk register, one of the high officersof state, who had a scat in the Scottish, parliament, to whom, and his deputies and other officers appointed by him, it was assigned to superintend both their formation and their cus tody. • The earliest records of Scotland were in the inconvenient form of rolls, but in
the reirm of David II. the practice wins introduced of writing them in books. By an act of '1463, the king's rolls and registers were appointed to be put in books; but the accounts in the exchequer continued, nevertheless, to be kept in rolls till the passing of another act in 1672, appointing them to he written in books. Prior to the reign of' Charles II., the public records were deposited, under care of the clerk register, in the ',nigh parliament house, now part of the advocates' library; and shortly before the union, the whole records were transferred to that depository, where they continued till the erection of the large building called the general register house, which was completed in 1787, and has recently been added to. The register house serves the purpose of pre s.Tving and making available the national muniments, as well as accommodating the whole offices of record connected with the supreme court. The lord clerk register and his depute have now merely the eus:ady of the records, their preparation being intrusted to another class of officers.
Under the Scottish records are included the acts of parliament and of privy council, and the records of all the various courts of justice; also the records of the great seal, privy seal, and signet. An important class of records are the Retours of Serrices. A. ser vice is by the law of Scotland necessary to transmit a right to real property to the heir from his ancestor. At present, this service consists of the decision of the sheriff of the county or the sheriff of chancery; but the form' in use till 1847 was by retou?, a writing which contained the verdict of a jury returned in answer to a brieve from chancery for finding the heir at the death of his ancestor. The register of retours is not extant fur ther back than 1347.
Tire registers connected with the transmission of heritable rights are even more important. After several unsuccessful attempts to introduce a system of registration, the great branch of tire public records known as the Register of &eines was established by act 1617, c. 16. By the system then introduced, which has since been continued with modifications in detail, all instruments requisite to the transmission of real property must be put on record for publication. Besides the principal register in Edinburgh, there are district registers, and any instrument may be recorded either in the general or dis trinit register. Volumes are issued front the general register house to the district record ers of sasiues, which, when filled, are returned to the general register house. By this means the title to real property can be ascertained with certainty and precision, and may, if necessary, be traced back two centuries and a half. It is also obligatory to record in separate registers all instruments necessary for the constitution, transmission, and extinction of voluntary incumbrances. See REGISTRATION OF DEEDS AND WRITS. This system, while confirming the credit of the proprietor, also operates in favor of the security of creditors. There is a special Register of Entails, iu which, in terms of act 1685, c. 22. deeds of entail nmst be recorded at the sight of the court of session. The object of registration in all these cases is publication ; but charters by subjects, dispo sitions, bonds, contacts, and other probative writs may, under act 1698, c. 4, be recorded iu the Register of Deeds for preservation. A third object of registration is execution. Every deed constituting a personal claim of debt. or an obligation to perform some law ful prestation, if intended to be made the subject of personal dilligence for payment or performance, and must be registered previously to execution being issued on it. Some volumes of calendars of state papers relating to Scotland have been issued to the public.