.

Massachusetts Archives

Search collections

Collection categories

Browse collections

information

Judiciary (3 collections) CHC

Final registration decrees [Massachusetts Land Court]

Part of: Massachusetts Land Court

Final registration decrees, 1898-1972.

38 volumes; 38 microfilm reels
Call no.: JU6/272

Scope and Content: The Court of Registration, established in 1898, was successively renamed the Court of Land Registration in 1900 and Land Court in 1904.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Spine title: Decrees Microfilm reel number 5 (October 1955-February 1956) missing
Related Catalog Records:

Archivegrid
OCLC

Records [Massachusetts Court of Assistants]

Part of: Massachusetts Court of Assistants

Records, 1629-1692.

For current extent consult index database
Call no.: JU1/2044X

Scope and Content: Assistants, also designated judicially in their own towns as magistrate, with powers of justice of the peace, were chosen annually by the General Court of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, the colony chartered by the English Crown in 1629.  They met separately from the General Court as a whole (i.e., including its freemen–or, from 1634, their elected deputies), constituting with the governor and deputy governor a Court of Assistants.  In 1634 this body’s legislative powers were ceded to the General Court as a whole (Mass Recs 1: 117).  From 1636 certain members were appointed as members for life of a standing council to the governor (see: Massachusetts. Council. Agency history record). By 1644, while assistants continued to meet separately–now concurrently with a House of Deputies, thus in effect being the upper house of the General Court–the designation of Court of Assistants was reserved for the assistants acting solely in their judicial capacity, this body continuing until the institution of the Dominion of New England in 1686 and then again with the 1689 revival of colonial government until institution of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in 1692.
Related Catalog Records:

Archivegrid
OCLC

Records [Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature]

Part of: Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature

Records, 1692-1780.

For current extent consult index database
Call no.: JU3/2022X

Scope and Content: The Superior Court of Judicature was created by the Massachusetts General Court in 1692, having cognizance of all pleas involving real or personal property, pleas to which the English Crown was a party, and all matters relating to conservation of the peace and punishment of offenders.  Series consists of public documents created during the provincial and later Revolutionary periods (1692-1774, 1775-1780) that deal with judicial matters (i.e., testimonies, depositions, writs, warrants, and bonds) not already specifically identified with the Council in its judicial capacity or otherwise dealing with divorce petitions or matters of probate and thus identified with the General Court.
Related Catalog Records:

Archivegrid
OCLC