The Lawless Courts of Rayleigh and the Rochford Hundred

Abstract

The unique customary court of Rochford, known as the ‘Whispering’ or ‘Lawless Court’, has been discussed at various times but no satisfactory explanation of its origin or date of inception has ever been proposed. That an explanation of the former, at least, can be given, and that it has implications which might extend well beyond mere local interest, is the purpose of this paper. For ease of discussion the chronology has been reversed and the evidence for the Court, or we should properly say Courts, has been traced backwards from the abeyance of the custom early in this century.