Brief history of The Court Leet:

Courts Leet are usually thought to be an anachronistic remnant of rural areas and so it may come as a surprise that three of them have had a continuous history and operation since the mediaeval period in the heart of central London. The area of the Guildable Manor is almost certainly coterminous with the original bridge-head settlement of the 'South-weork burgh' mentioned in the Burghal Hideage of circa 900 AD. It was not a manorial property in the Domesday Book of 1086 but simply a Royal estate farmed to leading earls; firstly Harold Godwinson and thence his son Harold II, thence by William I to his half-brother Bishop Odo and later his son-in-law the Earl Warrene of Surrey. The name 'Guildable' derives from the collection of tolls and taxes on goods bound to the City across the Bridge. These duties were eventually waived. There is a list of the King's Bailiffs from 1247, in Henry III's reign, so that its manorial status stems from that date. In 1327 the City of London acquired the interests for a fee farm of £11 per annum from Edward III. The original Charter, approved by Parliament, is still in the Guildhall Record Office. The formal reason for the City wanting control was because of the difficulties of judicial process and arrest of miscreants who could make-off to the Surrey bank out of the City's jurisdiction; no doubt the potential of Southwark becoming a competitive alternative for the City markets also exercised the Corporation.

The City Bailiff took up his duties in 1328, on the retirement of the last King's Bailiff and there is a complete record of the incumbents of the office from then to the present day. In 1462 the original charter was confirmed and extended by Edward IV who added the right to hold an annual fair from 7th 'til 9th of September and the jurisdiction of a "Pie Powder Court". This strange term is a mis-pronounciation from Norman-French meaning "dusty feet", a reference to itinerant, the court was necessary to hearing and acting on the cases of visitors and traders at such events. A Steward was appointed in 1542 and likewise a complete list of those who have served in this capacity is available. Both officials usually had other Guildhall appointments and duties, most often as the Bridge Masters, for the Bridge House-Yard was situated in the Manor off Tooley Street.

In 1550 the City decided to acquire from the Crown the two neighbouring manors. These had been taken from the suppressed Bermondsey Abbey and the St Augustine's Abbey of Canterbury. This action reflected the fact that in the period from 1327 the built-up area of Southwark had spread and the same problems of law enforcement and competitive and unregulated trade presented a challenge to the City's authority. The 1550 Charter, of Edward VI, granted all of the rights and priveleges over these manors (known as the King's Manor and the Great Liberty) as those enjoyed in the Guildable. The purchase price was agreed at £647 2s 1d for the land and 500 Marks for the feudal incidents relating to the three properties.

The Corporation did not actually pay these sums from its own resources but from the wealth it held in trust to maintain London Bridge free of charges. This was derived from bequests and also the rents from the buildings on the Bridge; hence the trust's name of 'Bridge House Estates'. No doubt the City fathers explained this dubious exercise away as an investment for the benefit of the Bridge, a financial arrangement which would not pass scrutiny in later times. Indeed, the City's practical authority in Southwark went into decline when it was decided, in 1820, that income from the Charter lands could only be applied to the benefit of the Bridge and not used for the civil administration of the Borough. To this day the Bridge House Estates remains one of the major property owners in this area. Its Mark is affixed to many buildings here and as such it is the oldest symbol signifying civic authority in Southwark. The Mark has been incorporated into the 1996 College of Arms grant of an heraldic Southwark Badge and is also incorporated on the Manors Badge.

As part of the changes from 1550 an Alderman was appointed by the Court of Aldermen to oversee the new responsibilities held by the Bridge Masters; the Southwark Manors were now termed as 'The Ward of Bridge Without'. The post quickly became a sinecure and eventually was the nominal office for the senior Alderman past the Chair to enjoy a semi-retirement in, the Steward, Bailiff and Manorial officers looking after the practical administration of 'the Borough' as the main part of Southwark was always termed. The last Alderman of this 'Ward' (the resident inhabitants and Livery never had directly elected representatives in Guildhall) retired in 1978 and the position was abolished by merging it with Bridge Ward in the City proper.

Under a general Charter of Edward IV concerned with confirming and extending the City's rights the Corporation was allowed to nominate a magistrate to the Commission of the Peace of Surrey. This was exercised from 1606 and the officer was set up with a house, court room and lock-up in the Bridge Masters precinct and salaried by them to administer the City's jurisdiction in regard to its Southwark Surrey manors. The officer was styled 'The Justice of the Bridge Yard', the last died in harness in 1835 and no further appointments were made; the new magistrates courts and Metropolitan Police system had made the role redundant.

The Guildable Manor Court Leet was recorded as assembling at the Bridge House-Yard in 1539. With the acquisition by the City of the other two Manors and the extensive responsibilities pertaining to them, in 1550, it was decided to create a separate forum for this, effectively a Justice Room and lock-up for the Lord Mayor and City officers. This was to be the redundant parish church of Southwark, St Margaret's, available since 1540 because the parishioners had been granted the Priory of St Mary Overie (the present Southwark Cathedral) by Henry VIII, as a consequence of his Dissolution of that House. This, the first, 'town hall' was provided by inserting a floor at the level of the gallery and by blocking in the windows below that. It was known variously as the 'Town Hall', 'Justice Room' or 'Court House' and eventually as the 'Borough Compter'. This was destroyed in the great fire of Southwark, in 1676, the lock-up part was eventually rehoused in Tooley Street. The Court House remained on the original site and was replaced with a new town hall in 1685.

The City surrendered one of its Charter rights, that of holding and controlling markets in Southwark, when it agreed to the 'Borough Market (Southwark) Act' of 1756. This moved the market from the main thoroughfare and eased traffic flow to London Bridge. The replacement facility was to be administered by independent local Trustees and was set up off the main street where its four acre site still continues in its role. From that date the Guildable Manor court ceased to appoint from its number officers described as 'Supervisors of the Market'.

The James II town hall fell into disrepair and was replaced in 1793; with the decline in the practical civic activity of the City's officers in Southwark in the following decades, the Bridge House Estates demanded that the building be surrendered to them as the site was valuable, because of the town and port's expansion, for redevelopment. It was closed and the site was sold in 1859. It stood at what is now the fork of Borough High and of Southwark Streets, hence the building there is named 'Town Hall Chambers'.

The Court Leet of the Guildable Manor then began to meet at the London Bridge Hotel until the Borough Market Trustees built themselves a new office with a Court Room on Southwark Street in 1932, which is where the Jury assembled until 1999.

From the late Georgian period the City began to appoint as High Steward the incumbent Recorder of London, ie the senior Judge of the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, with the office of High Bailiff of the Manors being a supplementary role of the Under Sheriff & Secondary ie the senior administrative officer of that Court. That is so to the present day, the Writs summonsing the jurors are issued out of the Old Bailey under the City Sheriffs Seal.

The Manor Jurors therefore had a number of officials and authorities to assist them in correcting their 'presentments' and to whom they could make complaint about the problems associated with this burgeoning urban area, second in population only to the City of London in course of time. Yet the Jurors were the effective representatives of the inhabitants who could in any other location have enjoyed full burgess and municipal corporate rights. From the late Georgian period repeated attempts were made to have the Southwark Manors incorporated fully into the City, or alternatively to secure effective independence. The campaigns were led by active members of the three City manorial courts. With the growth of the metropolis and the development of Vestry Boards and 'civil' parishes in the London County the Salisbury Government in 1899 made these full local authorities, as London Metropolitan Boroughs, from 1900. The issue of the Southwark Manors was brought to a head by this and as the City resisted overtures from Southwark representatives, local institutions and the Jurors for full integration it was by default that the three Manors became parts of two of the new municipal councils created by this scheme, that of Southwark and of Bermondsey. In 1965 the creation of the Greater London Council, incorporating the London County Council area and parts of the Home Counties, merged Bermondsey and Southwark with Camberwell to form the London Borough of Southwark. However, all of these civic reorganisations have not affected the functioning of the City's rights and the summonsing and empanelling of the Manor Courts Leet.

The form for holding the Southwark Courts Leet is based on a document of 1664. It has certain differences of detail to that of other Courts held elsewhere dating from 1650, almost certainly because the City could draft laws for itself and so the format for this was based on local traditions and conditions. The Assize & Assay is directed at the quality of bread, wine, ale, bread and meats. Other parts of the general 'charge' to the Jury relate to the immoral activities, pursuits and businesses that had to be controlled in Southwark. Apart from the 'stews' and gambling houses this included theatres and other such places of entertainment. Apart from the original Charters mentioned above, the lists of all Foremen, Officers and Jurors are intact from the earliest time, including copies of Writs made by the Bailiffs and records of Presentments, process and proceedings of the Courts and which can be read by interested persons in the Guildhall Records Office. Indeed they have formed valuable local background detail for scholars and two major academic studies have given special reference to them as they concerned the history of this part of central London. These are David Johnson's 'Southwark and the City' and Martha Carlin's 'Medieval Southwark'.