Cases after 1875 Legal Records Information 28 1. Introduction The Supreme Court of Judicature, established in 1875, incorporated the existing central law courts, common law and equity, into a new High Court of Justice, with a separate Appeal Court. Queen's Bench Division dealt with many civil cases as well, including contractual disputes, libel, debt and personal injury and some cases might be dealt with by either division. Little detailed information survives on most cases after 1945. Such records are now in J 83 and J 84 and consist of dossiers containing documents in the case.
Confidential papers are closed for various periods.
Shorthand notes of trials are not kept. Civil cases coming before the High Court were entered into the Cause Books of the appropriate division and given an action number - the year, the initial letter of the plaintiff's name or title of the case and a running number e.g. 1900 L 59. The Cause Books of Chancery Division 1875-1880 are in C 32 . Beyond giving the names of plaintiff and defendant and their solicitors, these Cause books, which do not record final judgements, often merely give the dates of appearances and sometimes the dates when pleadings were filed. Only a minority of actions started came to formal trial.