More new Petty Sessions records

Today we launched another 2.4 million records from the Petty Sessions order books (1850-1910) - one of the greatest untapped resources for tracing your Irish ancestors and another exclusive to findmypast.ie. If you have roots stretching back to counties Donegal, Mayo, Kerry, Galway or Clare you'll find this group of records particularly useful.

The original Petty Sessions records, held at the National Archives of Ireland, cover all types of cases, from allowing trespass of cattle to being drunk in charge of an ass and cart. These were the lowest courts in the country who dealt with the vast bulk of legal cases, both civil and criminal. This batch of entries contains details of 2 million cases, with most records giving comprehensive details of the case including: name of complainant, name of defendant, names of witnesses, cause of complaint, details of the judgement, details of a fine if any, and details of a sentence passed down if any.

For full details of all the new courts and counties included see our record information page for the Petty Sessions order books.