The act books (ARCH/1/A/1-2) contain acts of court relating to cases held mainly in the Oxford Archdeaconry church court and include cases instituted at the mere office of the judge, instance and office cases promoted by a third party, and minutes of court business.
Act books record the judicial business of the court and the hearing of cases under Canon Law. They dealt with the moral standards and conduct of the clergy, church officials and parishioners, church attendance, payment of parish dues, and the state of church buildings and churchyards.
The mere office heard business in open court relating to corrections arising from accusations, denunciations (accusations made publicly), informations, inquisitions and presentments (reports made by churchwardens on the moral character of the parish naming individuals arising from the process of visitations). The punishment for those who were found to be guilty was a penance which took the form of a confession which was read out in the local church.
Office causes were cases brought by the Office of the Judge against the defendant. The Instance causes were brought by one private individual against another. The proceedings were recorded by the Judge's Registrar in the act book, often some time after the case was heard, and included the parish, the names of the parties and often the charge against the defendant and further proceedings. Extracts from the evidence are rarely included.
Many of the courts were not held by officials such as the vicar-general, in person, but by substitutes appointed to act on their behalf and some volumes include records of appointments of these substitutes. At some sessions, where the court headings are abbreviated in the volumes, it is difficult to discover in what capacity a judge, who held more than one office, is acting at that time.
The books also contain some minutes of grants of probate (the proving of wills) and proceedings relating to grants of faculties (licences granted by the bishop's official for the alteration to church fabric, church buildings and churchyards), note of induction of clergy, fees of court officials and accounts, and a printed form for settlement of disputes concerning seats in Kidlington Church.