Livre de Jugements et Records Vol. 1

Edith Carey notebook.

[P 1] p. 298. 9 April 1579. François Girard as the purchaser of the estate of Etienne du Port of St Andrew's, against Edmond Estur [Etur] in right of his wife Thomasse, the daughter of Richard De Vic ... and is adjudged to pay to the said Estur 19 quarters of wheat rent ... according to a letter dated 27 July 1515 and in consequence to have to pay ... a further quarter ... owing to Collas Le Petevin [Collas Le Poidevin] in right of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Laurent De Vic, following the recognition of the said Francois Girard in right of John Pain of the contents of a letter of 7 March 1570.

13 April 1579. Thomas Simon in right of his wife Marie, the daughter of John Durand Jnr, against Colette Baudain [Colette Bodain], the daughter of Jehannet Baudain son of Collas, this in right of Françoise, the mother of the said Colette, the daughter of Michelle Nicolle of SPP ... is ordered to pay ... the said Colette Baudain ... 6 quarters of wheat ... for the purchase of a house ... dated 5 October 1525. [P 2] Same date. Collas Allez Jnr. of St Saviour, seized of the estate of Thomas Allez, against Andro Henry and his parceners, seized of a part of the estate of Collas Fallaize [Faleze]. The said Fallaize is the possessor of certain letters from Collas Allez, son of Thomas, in right of his wife, the daughter of Martin Belic ... and the said Allez is adjudged to pay ... one quarter of wheat ... to the [et--] of the Grand Ecole and as guarantee the son of Andro Henry ... in right of the Confraternity of Jesus in the Câtel ... (p. 299-304)

12 July 1582. In the presence of his excellency [noble homme] Thomas Leighton, Governor ... Nicolas Martin, Deputy of Guillaume Beauvoir, Baillif, John Blondel, Nicolas de Samarez [Saumarez], Nicolas Le Messurier, John de la Court and Guilaume Beauvoir, Jurats of the said Isle. The case of Thomas Overy against Pierre Cheshire, Raulin Henry and Francois Henry, all in their own right guardians of the children of Michel Le Hardy son of Vincent, is set for next Thursday.

[P 3] 15 July 1582 (before same people) the said Thomas Overy showed the Court a certificate, approved on the 27 February 1579 and signed by Guillaume Beauvoir, to the effect that the said Thomas Overy is the son and heir of John Overy of the Vale and of Colette Barbachon, the daughter of Raulin. And for their part, the said Pierre Cheshire, Raulin Henry and Francois Henry produced certain witnesses of whom enquiry could be made and who could be examined as to their knowledge of the said Thomas Overy and of his mother and father and their identities. The witnesses swore on oath, and severally gave the following testimony:

Collas Cousin, 50 years of age or thereabouts.  He swore that he knew Thomas Overy to be the son of a man who was usually known as Johnny [Jehannet] Overy, but sometimes Jean Overy, and of Colette Barbachon.

Collas Domaille, aged 57, said the same and says that he was called 'son of John' in the said warrant, dated 27 February 1579 - and that was [Thomas Overy] who said that Jean and Johnny are one and the same ... 

Thomas Mahy, 55, said that he knew that Thomas Overy was the son of Johnny Overy and of Colette Barbachon.

Collas Du Port said that he knew that the father of Thomas Overy was called Johnny Overy, and that he had married Colette Barbachon. Du Port was about 42 years of age.

Robin Vaudin, 72, said that he knew a man called Johnny Overy of the Vale, who had had two sons, one called Thomas and the other Collas.

John Domaille, 62, agreed.

Michel Perrin, 60, also said the same.

Pierre Bouillon, 64, the same.

Thomas Henry, 47, the same.

Pierre Hamelin, 55, said that he had seen Thomas Overy with a sealed warrant, in the time when Hellier Gosselin was Bailiff, dated around '55, which certified that Thomas Overy was the son of Johnny Overy.

John Jehan, 80 years of age, said that he had seen someone called Johnny Overy in the Vale, who had married a woman called Colette Barbachon.

Giret Ogier, aged 69, said that the father of the said Thomas Overy was called Johnny Overy and that he had never known him to be called anything else.

Robert Des Goubeys, aged 60, the same.

Robin Roberge, 90 years of age or thereabouts, said that he had known the said Thomas Overy's father always by the name of Johnny, and that he had never heard him called anything else.

Collas Genette, aged 80 said he had known him as Johnny Overy of the Vale.

Pierre Jouanne, 50, said he knew a man called Johnny Overy of the Vale, who had married Colette Barbachon and that he had had two sons, one called Collas, the other Thomas.

[P 6] John Langlois, 50, the same.

Thomas de Beaugy, 30, the same.

The oldest among them said that they did not know of there having been any Overy around at the time who had the name John or Johnny, except Johnny Overy, the son of John Overy, the grandfather of the said Thomas Overy.

John Le Moutez [Le Mottée ?], 36, the same.

18 July 1582, before the same people. Thomas Overy, son of Johnny, of the Vale, currently living in the city of Winchester, was judged to have lost his case against Pierre Cheshire, Raulin and Francois Henry, and injuncted to desist in his claim, as his father's heir, on any part of the estate of his said father and the escheat of Colliche Overy, Johnny's sister. following the presentation to the court of certain documents under seal, either the seal of the Bailiwick or that of the Court of St Michel du Valle, all clearly dated, viz.: the oldest 24 November 1523; the next 1 Decmeber 1523. Item. 6 December 1523. Item. 14 December 1523. Item. 7 March 1528. And one from 25 August 1530, showing that Johnny Overy and Colliche Overy had sold their whole estate to Renouvet Le Conte, and that the said Renouvet Le Conte had sold it on to the said Vincent Le Hardy (the said Johnny had sold parcels of his estate to several people); the evidence was fully set out in these letters. 

Moving on to the certificate that the said Thomas Overy possessed, dated 27 February 1579, which affirmed that Thomas Overy was the son of Jean Overy, the Court feels that this is not sufficient evidence for him to be able to claim any of the estate of his grandfather John Overy, the father of the said Johnny Overy, and that it had been sufficiently proved both by the first ... past and by the said letters, and that there was no other Overy in the time of Thomas' father called either John or Johnny, except the father of the said Thomas; and that Thomas Overy had confirmed that he was the son of Colette Barbachon, as was declared in the warrant, and that virtually all the witnesses had stated that Colette was the wife of Johnny Overy; and that Thomas Overy had sold his hereditary right in the right of his mother under the name of Thomas Overy son of Johnny and that in Guernsey the names John and Johnny were used pretty much indiscriminately, as were Collas, Colin, Nicolas, and suchlike, and in the letters and contracts of the island a person's parish is always specified, as well as the person's father, and that if these sorts of differences in such things as a person's name were taken at face value the estate laws in the island would be useless and the system of ownership would be thrown into disarray, it would be anarchy; this usage is so ancient in the island, as is shown by the oldest documents available to us, some of which we have been shown here as letters under seal. 

Thomas Overy appealed this judgment to the Privy Council, at a cost of £100 ...

p. 10. 18 November 1589.  Against John Corbel [John Corbet] son of Vincent of St Andrew, in favour of Louys de Vyck [Louis de Vic] ... concerning the whole estate of the eldest Pierre Guillebert [Pierre Guilbert], son of Collas, of St Andrew ... 23 bushels of wheat rent ... in accordance with a letter dated 16 January 1529 (witnessed by Nicollas Martin, Lieutenant of Guillaume Beauvoir, Bailiff).

16 December 1580. Against Guillaume Beauvoir son of Nicollas of Town, in favour of Pierre Le Mesurier son of Collas of St Pierre du Bois ... The said Beauvoir must give up his suit against the said Le Mesurier concerning 6 bushels of wheat rent from the estate of John Pain son of Collas bought by Henry Beauvoir, his grandfather, according to a letter dated 23rd February 1524, and another dated 19th February 1540. Since Pierre Le Mesurier, a priest, the uncle of the said Pierre Le Mesurier had assigned John Brehaut son of John to pay the treasurers of SPB 6 bushels of wheat rent from the estate of John Pain, the said 6 bushels being owed following an assignation by Pierre De Beauvoir son of Guillaume to cover the sale of a cottage and land to the said Pierre De Beauvoir, according to the contents of a letter under seal dated the 22 September 1530. The said cottage and land were divided amongst the heirs of the aforesaid Henry De Beauvoir and John Le Marchant in right of his wife Collette, daughter of Guillaume De Beauvoir and the heirs of the said Pierre De Beauvoir, the said Henry, Guillaume and Pierre De Beauvoir being brothers and the sons of Guillaume Beauvoir .. and are amongst the purchases made (by the family) and detailed in the partage of the heirs of the said Pierre De Beauvoir dated 1 July 1540, and that the said 6 bushels that the said Guillaume de Beauvoir son of Nicolas is asking for were not shared out as part of the family acquisitions of the brothers Henry, Guillaume and Pierre De Beauvoir, as Guillaume Beauvoir and Henry Beauvoir sons of the said Pierre De Beauvoir have told us ... and that they are not included in the bille of partage of the heirs of the said Henry De Beauvoir as part of the aquisitions of the said Henry Beauvoir and his brothers as the said Guillaume Beauvoir son of Nicollas has admitted, nor amongst [those of] the said Nicollas Beauvoir his father and his parceners We have also ascertained that Guillaume Beauvoir son of the said Henry bought for himself and his heirs 5 bushels of wheat rent from the estate according to a letter dated 16 August 1529, which the heirs of the said Pierre De Beauvoir will receive by virtue of the bill of partage, and that Guillaume de Beauvoir son of Nicolas is not entitled to profit from any acquisition made by his predecessors of the 6 bushels as he demands.

26 December 1580. Against Thomasse Effart, the daughter of Collas, the widow of [Hellier] Helier Gosselin, in favour of Helier Gosselin son of Nicollas and Nicollas Martin his guardian and his parceners. The widow must drop her claim to some trees, including several large pippins (apple trees), growing on her late husband's land, which she says are part of the chattels of the estate, since it has been found by the court that all such growing trees and plants are naturally part of an estate and are not chattels. Item the said widow must drop her claim to certain stones which are at Havelet, especially in view of the fact that they had been sold and taken to the site where they are due to be used, and also to drop her claim to books, both Holy Scripture and legal books, that would have belonged to the said late Helier Gosselin when he was alive, as it had been ruled that the books belonged to his two grandsons by his elder son. [Here this section stops and na oder part is bound in.]

p. 14. [p. 314]. 28 August 1530. James Guille, Bailiff. Gyresme Lenglois [Jerome Langlois] is banished [forbanz] from the island of Guernsey: he had besought the Church to save his life after he had murdered the wife of Guille de Chemyn [Guille Duchemin, Guille Duquemin], whom he had struck on the head with an axe. He swore to us on the Holy Saints that he did this at the behest of his wife, Ysabell Lenglois [Isabelle Langlois] and of Guille Du Chemyn, for certain remunerations, which he took and that he [himself had never had any trouble with her?]. After this admission he was flogged and expelled from the island never to return, unless pardoned, on pain of being hanged.

6 September 1531. Robyn Myllet, native of Normandy, at present resident in the Castel parish, is banished from the island. He besought the Church to save his life, for certain thefts ... of a sheep and a lamb[?] ...

3rd September 1531. Guille Duchemyn and Ysabell Lengloys [Guille Duquemin and Isabelle Langlois] are sentenced to be hanged until death for murder. [With a pictogram.]

4 October 1531. John Grandyn (C) [John Grandin] is today banished from this island ... for having stolen from the wife of Collas Guillot, a silver salt cellar, 6 golden chased [cups] and 25 gold pieces [?], 14 silver agnelots [?] and 2 wine vessels with silver decoration, 7 vergees of fabric, 4 bundles of wool, 12 shirts and a sheet, for which crime he has been banished and ordered never to return to the island on pain of being hanged ...

29 November 1532. Sire John du Bot, a priest, told the court, in the presence of the bailiff [James Guille] that he arranged with Colas Le Repoussez to see him at his house at around dawn, and that the said Le Repoussez did come and attacked him with an axe and kept him under the bed for the whole day. Le Repoussez took a chased [cup] and  some silver jugs and dug up silver and gold from his garden and meadow; he committed the crime on his own, and put the loot over his shoulder and took it out of his garden and through the gate and ran away. [NOTE:Nothing more said about his but I [EC] think some pages are missing, as p. 32 deals with 1534.]

3 May 1536. Guillaume Bailleul is to be clapped in irons in the Royal Castle [Cornet] by the Prevost and because his family will not get him out they will keep him there and from then on they will provide for him from his own money or arrange to pay the Porter for his keep until justice has been done.

10323

22 June 1536. in the presence of James Guille, Bailiff, Henry Beauvoir, Thomas DeVick, Thomas Henry, Johan Effart, Nicollas Caree [Carey] and Nicolas Blondel, Jurats.

The Court rules that Collenette Gascoing will leave the island, never to return, on pain of being whipped and having her ear cut off and nailed to the pillory, and similarly Margueritte Navetel [Margaret Naftel] is also banished, like the former, and to give a [church] candle to the Prevost, and it is ordered that they should be put on the Champ de Mars [le plain de Mars - the foreshore below the high tide mark]. 

The Court rules that Guillere the servant of Massie La Torte [Massey La Tourte] should leave the island. Typhaine La Querpantrière [Le Charpentier] has a month to move out or get married, under the pain of being banished from the island. Catherine Robinstete [?] should move out in a month or will be banished.  Collas [Perriam? Perrin?] must leave. Lespidère's serving-girl must move out within a month on pain of banishment. Collas Blondel is standing guarantee for his serving-girl who used to be James Blondel's, that she will behave and not cause any trouble.

James Bourges [Bourgaize] will stand guarantee that his serving-girl will behave herself.

Gratyene [Gratienne] Mahon must leave the island on pain of being flogged.

La Brocque [a woman of the Brock family] must leave or behave.

The girl who used to work for Barbachon of St Sampson's must leave the island on pain of sq[--]ere [eschette? esquerre?]

The son of Grisolaine has a month to behave or leave the island.

Vale

Peronelle Sebire of the Vale and Franchenesse [Franchounette?] her mother?, the [private?] maidservants of Richard Mahy, will leave on pain of forfeiting all their goods.

Perrot Collas and John Marion to leave on the same terms as above.

Collette Giret, Collette Grisor, Philippine La Johan (Jehan, Jouanne?), and the daughter of Guillaume Belin, should move out within a month or will have to leave the country.

St Sampson

Johan Dumaresq must keep his son inside the bounds of the parish until St Giles' day, and after that day should send him out of the country.

Isabel Cancouin stands guarantee for the good behaviour of her maid.

Andre Hamel is bound over to control his daughters and stop them running wild on pain of answering for them himself.

Jemyne Tirel is sentenced to behave or to leave the island.

Collas Corbillon must punish and control his children on pain of answering for them himself.

Alienor Le Nourche [Eleanor Le Nourche] will behave on pain of being banished.

The Constables of St Martin recommend that John Tommas [John Thomas, John Thoumes] leave the island.

Gaultier de Moullepy [Gaultier de Moulpied] is standing guarantee for his maid.

La Gabourelle [a woman called Le Gabourel] and her daughter will have to leave the island when she has recovered her health.

Guillaume Griquiet is enjoined to leave the country and is guaranteed by -- Prevost (?).

Thomas Nicolle and his wife and their maid Ghuenne (?) La Camelière are condemned to leave the country.

Pierote Blanche will reside in the parish of St Martin as long as she does nothing wrong.

Collas Le Cuquel will guarantee the good behaviour of his maid Marguytte.

If Perrine Nicolle and Vautier do not move out they will be forced to leave the country.

29 November 1536. Found against Collas de Garis the youngest in favour Johan Brehault in right of his wife the daughter of John Blondel ... [NOTE: Was he the Collas de Garis who, June 26 1556, with Collas Guillebert son of Thomas ... in right of their wives' ... sued John La Loe and had to give back to him 'a certain belt decorated with silver' according to a Judgment passed on 20 Spetember 1532.?] 

Against Collas Le Marchant in favour of John Blondel attorney 

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^{¹ See note for Colenette's activities in The Wizard of Goose Common.}