[Appendix A(78) 1792 Report of Commissioners of Inquiry]

N° 78.

 APPEAL of JAMES BANCKS

To the Honourable BASIL COCHRANE, Esquire, Governor of the Isle of Man.

The humble Appeal of JAMES BANCKS of Howstrack, in the Parish of Kirk Conchan within the said Island,

Sheweth,

THAT upon the prosecution of one William Montgomery Lockhart, under the notion of being the Lord’s forester, your Appellant was, by a sentence of your Honour, as at an Exchequer Court held the 4th of February last at Castle Rushen, fined in the sum of three pounds.; for destroying the Lord’s game ; whereas your Appellant took only an hare upon the tennant's quarter-land or rented ground in his own parish, and not upon any part of the commons which is called the King’s Forest, nor within the limits of any other place marked out and prescribed for the Lord’s warren in the island : That your Appellant conceiving himself greatly aggrieved by said judgment or sentence,

Doth for relief in the premises, appeal from it to His Grace James Duke of Athol , Lord of the said isle, praying your Honour’s acceptance of this his appeal, a reasonable time allowed for the prosecution thereof. He, as in duty bound, shall pray, &C.

Forasmuch as the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Derby, late Lord of this isle, in order to prevent the abuse made of appeals by contentious persons, to the great vexation of the subject and delay of justice, did, by His Lordship's order, remaining on record in the year 1666, enact and declare, That no appeals should be thereafter received or accepted by any Governor or Deputy Governor of this isle upon trivial occasions, or any matter of business under five pounds, and other restrictions therein mentioned ; which said order hath ever since been the standing rule and constant practice within this isle, and therefore I cannot accept the above-written appeal.

Given at Castle Rushen this 21st of March 1757

BASIL COCHRANE