Stannaries

A district which includes all parts of Devon and Cornwall where some tin work is situate and in actual operation. The tin miners of the stannaries have certain peculiar customs and privileges.

— Stannary courts. Courts in Devonshire and Cornwall for the administration of justice among the miners and tinners. These courts were held before the lord warden and his deputies by virtue of a privilege granted to the workers of the tin-mines there, to sue and be sued in their own courts only, in order that they might not be drawn away from their business by having to attend law-suits in distant couris. Brown.