Letters Patent - Shortened Commission of Assize [1925-12-12]

Letters Patent - Shortened Commission of Assize [1925-12-12]

Courts

Ceremonial

Shortened version of the Letters Patent of King George V empowering a judge to hold Assizes in the County of Chester.

King George V

Sir Frank Douglas MacKinnon, On Circuit 1924-1937 (Cambridge University Press, 1940), 302-303.

1925-12-12

Jason Loch

County of Chester

George the [Fifth] by the Grace of God of Great Britain Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, to the Honourable Sir Hugh Fraser, Knight, Justice of the High Court of Justice  To such of our Counsel learned in the Law who are authorised by our Royal Warrant or by the Warrant of our Lord High Chancellor to be of the Commission, And to the Clerk of Assize and Circuit Officers of the North Wales Circuit. Greeting. Know ye that we have assigned you to enquire more fully the truth of all offences and injuries whatsoever within our County of Chester and to deliver the Gaol thereof and to take all the assizes juries and certificates within our County of Chester.

And therefore we command you that you shall make diligent enquiries about the said offences and injuries and hear and determine the same and take all the assizes juries and certificates doing therein what to Justice does appertain according to the laws and customs of England.

In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patent. Witness ourself at Westminster the twelfth day of December in the sixteenth Year of our Reign.

Wafer Seal

This text is taken from a transcript published in a book and may not reflect the formatting of the original.

The published text starts with "George the Sixth" but this is likely a mistake for "George the Fifth." The shortened version is dated the 12th day of December in the 16th regnal year which would fall on December 12, 1951 for King George VI. However, the judge named in this version, Sir Hugh Fraser, died in 1927.

According to Sir Frank MacKinnon, this shortened version would be read when the Assizes took place in a County Town.