Corporation of London

The Court of Husting was the oldest civic court in the City of London. Its business was divisible into Pleas of Land and Common Pleas. In the Court of Husting for Pleas of Land were pleaded writs of Right Patent (writs to recover possession of land and the property in them). In the Court of Husting for Common Pleas various writs could be pleaded, including among others recovery of a widow's dower of lands, recovery of lands and rents and recovery of distress wrongfully taken. Deeds and wills were also enrolled at this Court, and no foreigner could be admitted into the freedom of the City of London except at the Court of Husting.

The Court sat on Mondays, alternating between Pleas of Land and Common Pleas. The presiding judges were the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, or six Aldermen if the Mayor was unavailable. A junior attorney took the job of Clerk of the Enrolments whose duty it was to enrol deeds and wills.

The business of the Court gradually declined and by the 1880s it hardly sat, being used mainly for the purpose of considering and registering gifts made to the City.