The Court of King's Bench and Common Pleas on Nevis was at the time considered to have been regulated by Acts of Parliament passed prior to 1732. In, or from, 1732 the Court was regulated by Court Act No. 100 of Nevis. The Court blended the separate jurisdictions of the courts of King's/Queen's Bench and Common Pleas in England. The records in this series cover both civil and criminal cases. There are 41 volumes or items covering the period 1705-1873. There are significant gaps in the first half of the eighteenth century but there is more comprehensive coverage after that. The series includes Minute Books, Cause Lists and Entries for Judgement. The first volume comprises probably the earliest known set of records on Nevis dating from 1705-1716. In civil cases the Minute Books list the plaintiff and the defendant and give some limited details of the cases together with outcomes. The criminal case Minute books include cases in the difficult period straddling Emancipation. The volume for 1831-1834 includes a Court of Criminal Slaves. Volumes listing Entries for Judgement in the 1700s are particularly useful since they can sometimes provide plantation names, acreages and lists of enslaved people - information which may not be available elsewhere. In the 1820s most court records were preserved in the Secretary's office which was in one masonry wing of the courthouse, the other wing being the Provost Marshall's office. In 1913 V L Oliver stated that some early King's Bench and Common Pleas volumes had been rescued from an old cupboard, the earliest being 1710. He thought there were only three volumes and they were kept in the Registrar's Office, effectively the Secretary's office. In 1965 E C Baker listed about 40 volumes kept in the courthouse. It is not known when they were moved to the courthouse vault. Legal custody of these court records lies with the ECSC Registrar for St Kitts and Nevis, based in Basseterre, St Kitts under the practical supervision of the Assistant Registrar in Nevis. The records are in bound volumes with an occasional bundle. Some are stored on wooden shelves in the courthouse vault, not necessarily in chronological order. Others have been put into Bankers' Boxes in the vault and some of the early fragile volumes are kept in a black tin box, labelled 'Nev Reg', along with some other fragile records. All have been wrapped and tied. Extent and format of original material: 1 Series comprising 39 individual volumes.
This series contains the following files.
- EAP794/1/2/1: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1705-1716;
- EAP794/1/2/2: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1710;
- EAP794/1/2/3: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1712-1716;
- EAP794/1/2/4: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1714-1716 (1749);
- EAP794/1/2/5: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1718-1723;
- EAP794/1/2/40: Court of King's Bench and Common Pleas 1718 Loose Sheets;
- EAP794/1/2/6: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1725-1726;
- EAP794/1/2/7: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1734-1737;
- EAP794/1/2/8: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1750-1754;
- EAP794/1/2/9: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1756-1760;
- EAP794/1/2/10: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1760-1762;
- EAP794/1/2/11: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1762-1764;
- EAP794/1/2/12: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1764-1767;
- EAP794/1/2/13: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1767-1769;
- EAP794/1/2/14: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1769-1771;
- EAP794/1/2/15: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1771-1774;
- EAP794/1/2/16: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1774-1776;
- EAP794/1/2/17: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1776-1779;
- EAP794/1/2/18: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1776-1812;
- EAP794/1/2/19: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1779-1792;
- EAP794/1/2/20: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1785-1822;
- EAP794/1/2/21: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1789-1796;
- EAP794/1/2/22: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1802-1805;
- EAP794/1/2/23: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1805-1813;
- EAP794/1/2/24: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1811;
- EAP794/1/2/25: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1814-1827;
- EAP794/1/2/26: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1822-1841;
- EAP794/1/2/27: Court of King’s Bench and Common Pleas 1827-1836;
- EAP794/1/2/28: Court of King 's Bench and Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1831-1844;
- EAP794/1/2/29: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1836-1843;
- EAP794/1/2/30: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1843-1851;
- EAP794/1/2/31: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1849-1856;
- EAP794/1/2/32: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1853-1857;
- EAP794/1/2/33: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1854-1858;
- EAP794/1/2/34: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1858-1874;
- EAP794/1/2/35: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1861-1866;
- EAP794/1/2/36: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1869-1874;
- EAP794/1/2/37: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1869-1960;
- EAP794/1/2/38: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1870-1873;
- EAP794/1/2/39: Court of Queen’s Bench and Common Pleas 1872-1873;
