Definition
A procedural scheduling list maintained in the English courts of common law — and subsequently in the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions of the High Court — on which demurrers, special cases, and similar matters requiring argument were formally set down for hearing. The special paper functioned as the administrative mechanism by which courts distinguished cases requiring substantive legal argument from those proceeding on other grounds.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in English common law procedure, particularly materials predating the Judicature Acts of 1873–1875, will encounter references to the special paper as a living procedural device. Its significance lies not in the list itself but in what placement on it signified: that a matter had been formally scheduled for substantive argument, as opposed to routine or ministerial processing.
The term appears in contrast to several other court lists — the new trial paper, peremptory paper, crown paper, and revenue paper — each associated with distinct procedural functions and, after the Judicature Acts, particular divisions of the High Court. Failing to recognize these distinctions when reading historical English pleadings or procedural commentary will cause confusion. A document described as "on the special paper" tells the researcher something specific about procedural posture.
American researchers should note that the special paper is essentially an English common law procedural artifact. References in American materials (such as the Pennsylvania citation in Black's) reflect the influence of English practice on early American courts, not an independent American institution. The term largely disappears from American procedural writing as domestic court rules developed their own scheduling mechanisms.
For researchers using Law Mind's historical corpus, the special paper surfaces most naturally in treatises on English common law practice, pleading manuals, and pre-Judicature Act procedural guides. It is not a term of substantive law and will rarely control the outcome of a legal question — its significance is almost entirely procedural and administrative.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's, Rapalje & Lawrence, and Bouvier's are in close agreement on the core definition: the special paper is a court list on which demurrers and special cases are set down for argument. All three sources tie it to the English common law courts and their successor divisions under the High Court.
Rapalje & Lawrence provides the most useful context by naming the competing lists — new trial paper, peremptory paper, crown paper, revenue paper — and noting that the distinctions among them track the particular practice of each division. This comparative framing is absent from Bouvier's, which offers the thinnest account of the three. Black's alone provides an American jurisdictional citation (59 Pa. St. 340), suggesting the term had some transatlantic circulation in practice, at least in courts that inherited or modeled English common law procedure.
None of the historical sources explain the internal mechanics of how a matter was placed on the special paper, what distinguished a "special case" eligible for it, or what procedural consequences followed from scheduling. Researchers needing that level of detail will need to consult period practice manuals such as Tidd's Practice or Archbold's Practice of the Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas.
Jurisdictional Note
The special paper is an English common law procedural institution with limited direct application in American law. Its appearance in American sources reflects the influence of English practice on early state courts, particularly in jurisdictions with strong common law traditions. Researchers encountering the term in American materials should treat it as borrowed terminology referencing English procedural form rather than as an established American procedural category.