Crown Counsel Procedure Books
This is an ongoing project to index the Crown Counsel Procedure Books for Scotland. These records were created when local officials (procurators-fiscal, PFs) submitted reports ("precognitions") to the central Crown Office in Edinburgh for sorting. The Crown Office would then check the reports and refer the case to the Justiciary Court (for the most serious offences) or to the local Sheriff Court. Cases referred to the Sheriff Court were referred to either the Sheriff and a jury (solemn cases, maximum sentence 2 years) or to the Sheriff sitting along (summary cases, maximum sentence 6 months). Sometimes, the Crown Office would recommend dropping the case (no proceedings).
These are important records as they provide a route in to a wide range of criminal records in Scotland. Specifically, it will help us produce an index to the Sheriff Court criminal records, which are a fantastic resource. Indexing the Sheriff Court records is much more challenging, but this index will help speed up this process. As we index the Sheriff Court records, we will be linking the two record sets together. We will publish the first tranche of Sheriff Court criminal records shortly here.
The Crown Counsel Procedure Books begin in April 1822, and so far we have indexed up to May 1879 (NRS reference AD9/1-24). There is then a gap in the records, and we have also indexed August 1894 to October 1896 (AD9/25). The index currently contains just over 171,000 records. We have also indexed very similar records (NRS reference AD8) from 1890 to 1920 (55,000 records, available here).
These are important records as they provide a route in to a wide range of criminal records in Scotland. Specifically, it will help us produce an index to the Sheriff Court criminal records, which are a fantastic resource. Indexing the Sheriff Court records is much more challenging, but this index will help speed up this process. As we index the Sheriff Court records, we will be linking the two record sets together. We will publish the first tranche of Sheriff Court criminal records shortly here.
The Crown Counsel Procedure Books begin in April 1822, and so far we have indexed up to May 1879 (NRS reference AD9/1-24). There is then a gap in the records, and we have also indexed August 1894 to October 1896 (AD9/25). The index currently contains just over 171,000 records. We have also indexed very similar records (NRS reference AD8) from 1890 to 1920 (55,000 records, available here).
