Statute roll facts for kids

A statute roll was a special type of old document used in England a long time ago. Imagine a long scroll made from parchment (which is like a very thin, strong animal skin). On these scrolls, people wrote down all the new laws, called statutes, that were passed by the Parliament of England.

These rolls were also known as Tower rolls because they were kept safe in the Wakefield Tower, which is part of the famous Tower of London. They stayed there until around the 1850s!

What Are Statute Rolls?

At the end of a medieval parliament meeting, all the important new laws that affected everyone were gathered together. They were then written down on a statute roll. Each roll was given a title based on the king's "regnal year" – this means the year of the king's rule. For example, if a law was passed in the seventh year of King Richard II's reign, it might be called "VII Ric. II." Each individual law was like a section or chapter on the roll.

History of Statute Rolls

The very first statute roll we know about was created in 1278. It's called the Statute of Gloucester.

Before Statute Rolls

Before 1278, there were other types of important rolls that recorded different things. For example, there were rolls for court cases, financial records, and official letters from the king. Some of these started as early as the late 1100s.

It's a common mistake to think that the famous Magna Carta was the first law on the first statute roll. It wasn't! Magna Carta was a very important document, but it came before the statute rolls began.

The End of Statute Rolls

Statute rolls were no longer used after 1469. This is because a new way of recording laws started. Laws began to be written down on "parliament rolls" instead.

How Laws Were Recorded Later

At first, parliament rolls mainly recorded what happened during parliament meetings, like requests from people or new ideas for laws. They didn't often include the actual laws themselves.

But over time, this changed. From 1483 onwards, both public laws (laws for everyone) and private laws (laws for specific people or groups) were written on the parliament rolls. Later, only private laws that paid a fee were included, and eventually, only the titles of private laws were mentioned. By 1629, the parliament rolls only contained the laws themselves, and by 1759, even the titles of private laws disappeared from them.

Where to Find Them Now

The old statute rolls were translated and printed in a big collection of books called The Statutes of the Realm. This huge project was done between 1810 and 1828 and filled nine large volumes!