My great-grandfather, William Austen, appeared in Court in Maidstone sometime between about 1901 - 1904 ish. He'd leased three buses and defaulted on the payments. He was by all accounts, a fairly eloquent individual and decided to defend himself. Everything was going quite well until they broke for lunch, at which time William repaired to a local hostelry and, to cut a long story short, arrived back at court slightly less eloquent and thus lost his case!

I've no idea which court he may have appeared in, Magistrates, Assizes, Quarter Sessions or whether it was a private prosecution.

I'd be grateful is someone could suggest which court it might have been and what would be the chances of finding any record?