“The establishment of the court of Requests was due to the large increase in the judicial business of the Council and the Chancery under the Tudors…. It was related both to the judicial side of the Council, which, as we shall see, came, in the course of the Tudor period, to be known as the court of Star Chamber, and to the court of Chancery…. [F]rom the end of Henry VIII’s reign onwards, the legal assessors of the court assumed entire control, with the result that it became a court which was quite separate from the court of Star Chamber. These legal assessors were styled Masters of Requests, and from their title the court got its name.” 1 William Holdsworth, A History of English Law 412–13 (7th ed. 1956).
court of requests
Court of Requests. Hist. A royal court whose jurisdiction was mainly civil, though it exercised quasi-criminal jurisdiction in offenses such as riot and forgery. • Dating from 1483, the Court of Requests was a part of the Privy Council. It was disbanded in 1641 when Parliament limited the Privy Council’s judicial functions.
