Court hand
Court hand (also common law hand, cursiva antiquior, and charter hand[1]) was a style of handwriting used in medieval English law courts, and later by professionals such as lawyers and clerks. "It is noticeably upright and packed together with exaggeratedly long ascenders and descenders, the latter often and the former occasionally brought round in sweeping crescent shaped curves".[2]
The hand took its name from the fact that it was particularly associated with formal records of the courts of Common Pleas and King's (or Queen's) Bench, although its use was not confined to them.[3] In the 17th and 18th centuries the writing became increasingly stylised, to the point that it was virtually illegible to any reader unfamiliar with its conventions. The hand was banned from English law courts in 1731 by the Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730, which required that, with effect from 25 March 1733, court proceedings "shall be written in such a common legible Hand and Character, as the Acts of Parliament are usually ingrossed in ... and not in any Hand commonly called Court Hand, and in Words at Length and not abbreviated".[4][a] Even in the 19th century, however, an ability to read court hand was considered useful for anyone who had to deal with old court records.[6]
Letter forms
Alphabet
After Wright & Martin (1879).[7]
| A | a | B | b | C | c | D | d |
| E | e | F/ff | f | G | g | H | h |
| I/J | i/j | K | k | L | l | ||
| M | m | N | n | O | o | P | p |
| Q | q | n | R | r | ꝛ | ||
| S | s | ſ | T | t | U/V | u | v |
| W/Ꟃ | w/ꟃ | X | x | Y | y | Z | z |
In the early documents there were also the following Old English letters:
- ð - after the XII century is found almost exclusively in copies of earlier documents; in its inscription coincided with the sign of the abbreviation đđ;
- þ - used until the XVI century, by which time it coincided in writing with y ;
- ƿ - like ð, after the XII century almost not found; in the 15th century, copiers were often confused with þ and yy;
- ᵹ/ȝ - used from the XII to the 15th century; in the XIV-XV centuries became indistinguishable from zz ;
Ligatures
| Image | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ff | Replaced the initial F after the end of the XIII century | |
| st |
Abbreviations
| Image | Symbol | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special signs | |||
| ◌̄ | m, n | It can also indicate -er and many other omissions | |
| ʳ | -er | Also -re, -ir, -or and other omissions; in combination with high letters is often replaced by a simple line | |
| ꝯ | -us | Sometimes -os | |
| ꝯ | con- | It looks identical to the previous one and differs only in size and location | |
| ◌ᷣ | -ur | Sometimes -tur | |
| ;, ꝫ | -et | Also -ue and -us ; can denote the passage of other letters before -et | |
| 🙲, & | et | Not found in the middle of words after 1200 | |
| ⁊, :t | et | Replaced the previous form everywhere except at the beginning of the word | |
| ÷ | est | After the 12th century, it is rare | |
| ꝭ | -es, -is | Could denote omissions, but later its meaning became more specific | |
| Contractions | |||
| ħ | hec | ||
| ḣ | hoc | ||
| hꝰ | hujus | ||
| p̄ | pre | Later was replaced ꝕ | |
| ꝑ | per | ||
| ꝓ | pro | ||
| pꝰ | post | ||
| q̄ | que | ||
| ꝗ̄ | quem | ||
| ꝗᵃ | quam | ||
| ꝗ | quod | ||
| ꝗⁱ | quid | ||
| qꝫ | que | ||
| qꝛ | quia | ||
| ꝝ | -rum | Also denotes omission | |
| ẝ | ser- | Also denotes a omission; it can be recorded as sꝫ | |
| vꝫ | verch | In Welsh names | |
Omissions
| Image | Symbol | Importance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| đ | |||
| Đ | De | ||
| Ẽ | |||
| ff | |||
| g̃ | |||
| ꝃ | |||
| ỻ | ll | ||
| m̃ | |||
| ñ | |||
| NT | |||
| ⓠ | que | ||
| r̃ | |||
| ꝶ | |||
| s̃ | |||
| ⓣ | |||
| T̃ | |||
| x̃ |
Cultural references
- In Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2 (written c.1591), Act 4, scene 2, Dick the Butcher says of Emmanuel, Clerk of Chatham, "He can make Obligations, and write court-hand."
- In Charles Dickens's novel Bleak House (1852–3), Lady Dedlock begins a significant subplot by noticing a particular "law hand" on a legal document.
- Court hand is referred to in T. H. White's novel The Sword in the Stone (1938).
See also
- Bastarda – Various scripts and typefaces of Renaissance Europe
- Blackletter – Historic European script and typeface
- Book hand – Legible handwriting style
- Calligraphy – Visual art related to writing
- Chancery hand – Two styles of historic handwriting
- Cursive – Style of penmanship
- Handwriting – Writing created by a person with a writing implement
- History of writing
- Italic script – Style of handwriting and calligraphy developed in Italy
- Palaeography – Study of handwriting and manuscripts
- Penmanship – Technique of writing with the hand
- Ronde script (calligraphy) – Sixteenth-century handwriting script
- Rotunda (script) – Medieval blackletter script
- Round hand – Type of handwriting
- Secretary hand – Style of European handwriting
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
- ^ "Types of Script". Harvard's Geoffery Chaucer Website. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
- ^ "Quills and court-hand writing". Plymouth City Council. Archived from the original on 2009-04-07.
- ^ Hector 1966, p. 66.
- ^ Barrett & Iredale 1995, p. 47.
- ^ Bowen, Ivor (ed.). . . p. 204 – via Wikisource. [scan ]
- ^ Wright & Martin 1879, pp. vii–viii.
- ^ Wright & Martin 1879.
General and cited references
- Barrett, John; Iredale, David (1995). Discovering Old Handwriting. Princes Risborough: Shire Publications. ISBN 0-7478-0268-8.
- Hector, L.C. (1966). The Handwriting of English Documents (2nd ed.). London: Edward Arnold.
- Johnson, Charles; Jenkinson, Hilary (1915). English Court Hand A.D. 1066 to 1500: Illustrated Chiefly from the Public Records. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Wright, Andrew; Martin, Charles Trice (1879). Court-Hand Restored or, The Student's Assistant in Reading Old Deeds, Charters, Records, Etc (9th ed.). London: Reeves & Turner.