Tomos Merfyn Wyn ADH/ECL wrote:
> I have just received a letter from a solicitor, asking this Record
> Office to comply with a request to provide ?numerous documents? from
> their records which are held at this office, to provide a client, who,
> allegedly, is ?anxious to obtain the documents in order to carry out
> further research and document them in his personal archive.?
> Apparently, the client proposes to return them ?eventually? to the
> Archive Service under his family name!
>
> The documents, dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
> include a number of marriage settlements. The only claim as far as I
> can make out, is that the client?s ?ancestors have been clients of the
> firm for a number of years and that at some time in the past a number of
> documents relating to his family history were deposited? by the
> Solicitor?s office at this Record Office.
>
Documents created by solicitors in the course of business for clients
are the property of clients. Is the solicitor suggesting that *this*
client is the eventual heir and assign of the orignal clients, and
therefore holds good title to the documents? Ask him and put it in terms
of title, so he knows that he should be wearing his legal hat - I bet he
starts hedging. If the client does hold title, there's not a lot that
can be done if he *demands* the return of the documents (do you have any
paper work from when the documents entered the record office that might
throw light on the matter).
But what you could do is to point out that if the client is interested
in their family history it would be a lot easier for them to consult the
documents with the aid of expert advice and people trained in their
interpretation (ie, to come into the Record Office and work with you).
Stress the excellent facilities you have, and the other material which
will prove to be useful to the research.
If you're really worried, offer copies (and transcripts)*free of charge*.
Hope this helps
Edwin
|