Manor Courts Ballydehob 1621, Bantry 1679, Co. Cork, and coments by John Jagoe, Bantry re same to Commission 1836.

The jurisdiction of the Manor Courts was transferred to the Petty Sessions in 1859.  Before then they operated throughout Ireland with different dates of commencement.

The court at Ballydehob was set up on the 16th July 1621 over the lands known as ‘Glaght Teige’ or ‘Mahama’ comprising thirteen ploughlands.  A parliamentary report of 1837 stated that in 1833 the court sat on 13 occasions with 131 cases entered and 72 tried.  Its jurisdiction was  below 10 shillings for debt and not exceeding £5 for trespass, detinue, trover and trespass.  The court was presided over by a ‘seneschal’ Mr Sweetnam who was not legally qualified and a jury.

There are papers in relation to the operation of the court in 1761 in the National Library.

The Manor Court in Bantry dated from the…