CP40x Datasette

Court of Common Pleas plea-roll indexes: browse tables, run canned queries, and open AALT scan folders when a roll link is known.

What you can do without logging in

Browse tables (cases, names, places, rolls).
Run canned queries listed on the database page (e.g. Search surname).
Follow this guide at /docs/.

Ad-hoc SQL

Custom SQL via ?sql=… needs HTTP basic auth. Credentials are in datasette-auth.txt on the server (not published here).

Useful columns

cases.side — face of the membrane (f front / d dorse), when known.
cases.image — membrane / frame number from the index (e.g. 37, 1593). This is not a web URL.
cases.roll_label / cases.roll_number — which plea roll the entry comes from.
rolls.aalt_roll_url — link to the AALT roll landing page when we could extract it from the source index. Absent when unknown (cell is blank).

Finding the scan on AALT

A roll URL opens the AALT folder for that whole roll. Use the image (membrane) number — and side if present — to locate the matching frame on that page. Deep links to a single image file are not available yet.

Example: search for a surname, note image = 819 and click aalt_roll_url, then find membrane 819 in the AALT listing.

Canned query tips

Text filters (surname, place, county, venue) use SQL LIKE wildcards: % = any run of characters, _ = one character (e.g. Sm_th, %ford). If you type neither wildcard, a trailing % is added (prefix search). Matching is case-insensitive for ordinary letters.

county is the person’s place county (from the name string); venue is the court venue on the case (cases.county). They often differ (e.g. someone “of Kent” sued in London).

Search surname also takes optional venue, role (plaintiff / defendant; blank = both), and start_year / end_year (defaults 1349–1596).

Search surname + place / county adds optional place, county, and venue. Leave blank fields to ignore them. Results include case/roll fields (side, membrane, roll URL), not names alone.