Court Records Digest
Court Records Digest
Pre-1914 court papers located in the Circuit Court for the City of
Fredericksburg, Virginia, are being
processed for archival storage and microfilming. As part of this on-going project, a database
containing the names of primary
parties (plaintiffs, defendants, deponents, petitioners, etc) has been created by the Records
Conservation Project. Also included
in the database are Remarks on the contents of records containing documents of historical or
genealogical significance. Over
three thousand records containing Remarks are presented in the Court Records Digest.
Search for Digest entries using the Digest Index,
which contains all words in all Digest entries with the exception of common words (the, and,
etc.),
common abbreviations (dec'd, exor, etc.), and
abbreviations for which complete words also exist in the same record (Comlth for Commonwealth,
Wm. for William, etc.). The index does not contain initials or non-alphabetic characters.
All words have been entered in the database spelled as they were found in the original documents
(typos excepted). Consequently, several variations of a
word may appear in the same word table. The lack of punctuation in early documents also produces
variations on a single
word ("Taliaferros" may have been used for "Taliaferro's" or for "Taliaferros", denoting several
people named "Taliaferro"). In the
instance of the use of "Slave" and "Slaves", the plural form was intentionally used to indicate
records containing references to
more than one slave.
Court papers in the Circuit Court for the City of Fredericksburg are from the following courts:
-
The Hustings Court, also known as the Corporation Court in jurisdictions incorporated as
independent cities, was the
town/city equivalent of the County Court. It was presided over by Justices under the Mayor of
the town/city and heard
civil and criminal matters. Civil actions on appeal and criminal matters resulting in conviction
were sent to the next higher court
(Hustings Court to District Court / Superior Court and Corporation Court to Circuit Court) for
further action.
-
District Courts, created in order to relieve the General Court of the congestion of
common law cases,
were established in eighteen Virginia localities and the district of Kentucky in 1789. Each
district was comprised of several
counties and court was held twice a year in each district. General Court judges presided over
the District Courts. The court for
the District of Spotsylvania included Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George, Stafford, Orange,
Culpeper and Counties. District Courts were abolished in 1808, being replaced by Superior Courts
of Law.
Citation :
THE VIRGINIA STATE COURT SYSTEM, 1776-
by
Thomas Jefferson Headlee, Jr.
Virginia State Library
1969
Notes:
Madison County was also part of the District for Spotsylvania as evidenced by the court
records.
The records for the Spotsylvania District Court are located in Fredericksburg because the
District Court sat in the Fredericksburg courthouse, not in the Spotsylvania County courthouse.
Consequently, this Court is often
referred to as the Fredericksburg District Court.
Among the records in Fredericksburg are a number of cases which were instituted in the General
Court and moved later to the
newly created District Court.
-
Superior Courts of Law were created in 1808, superceding the District Courts and
maintaining the same district
structure for criminal and civil cases. The courts, established in each county, met twice a
year, presided over by a General Court
judge riding a circuit from county to county. Consequently, these courts are often referred to
as "Circuit Courts", "Circuit Courts of
Law" or "Circuit Superior Courts".
Citation :
THE VIRGINIA STATE COURT SYSTEM, 1776-
by
Thomas Jefferson Headlee, Jr.
Virginia State Library
1969
Note:
The records for Spotsylvania Superior Court of Law are located in Fredericksburg
because the court sat in the Fredericksburg courthouse, not in the Spotsylvania County
courthouse.
Consequently, this Court is often referred to as the Fredericksburg Superior Court of Law.
-
Superior Courts of Chancery were created in 1802 in order to expedite the hearing of
chancery cases, which had previously been
heard in the High Court of Chancery. Superior Courts were established in three districts and are
sometimes referred to as
"District Courts of Chancery". The number of Superior Court districts was increased to six in
1812, to eight in 1813/1814 and to nine
late in 1814. The Spotsylvania District for the Superior Court of Chancery, established in 1814,
included Caroline, Culpeper,
Fauquier, Fairfax, Lancaster, Northumberland, Madison, King George, Orange, Prince William,
Richmond, Spotsylvania, Stafford,
Essex and Westmoreland Counties and the Town of Fredericksburg.
Citation :
THE VIRGINIA STATE COURT SYSTEM, 1776-
by
Thomas Jefferson Headlee, Jr.
Virginia State Library
1969
Note:
The records for Spotsylvania Superior Court of Law are located in Fredericksburg because the
court sat in the
Fredericksburg courthouse, not in the Spotsylvania County courthouse. Consequently, this Court
is often referred to as the
Fredericksburg Superior Court of Chancery.
-
Circuit Superior Courts of Law and Chancery were created in 1831, superceding the
Superior Courts of Law and the
Superior Courts of Chancery. The courts, held in each county twice a year and presided over by a
General Court judge
riding a circuit from county to county, were abolished in 1852 when the Virginia Constitution of
1851 became effective.
Citation :
THE VIRGINIA STATE COURT SYSTEM, 1776-
by
Thomas Jefferson Headlee, Jr.
Virginia State Library
1969
Note:
The records for Spotsylvania
Superior Court of Law and Chancery are located in
Fredericksburg because the court sat in the Fredericksburg courthouse, not in the Spotsylvania
County courthouse.
Consequently, this Court is often referred to as the Fredericksburg Superior Court of Law and
Chancery. The Court Order Book for the period shows the last reference to Law and Chancery
appearing in the May 1850 court term.
-
Circuit Courts, established in 1852, were held twice a year in each county and were
presided over by a judge riding a
circuit from county to county.
Citation :
THE VIRGINIA STATE COURT SYSTEM, 1776-
by
Thomas Jefferson Headlee, Jr.
Virginia State Library
1969
Notes:
The records for Spotsylvania Circuit Court through 1889 are located in Fredericksburg because the
court sat in the Fredericksburg
courthouse, not in the Spotsylvania County courthouse, until Fredericksburg was incorporated as
an independent city at which
time this court was convened at the Spotsylvania County courthouse and the Fredericksburg Circuit
Court was established in the
City of Fredericksburg. The Court Order Book for the period shows the first reference to Circuit
Court appearing in 16 August 1850 proceedings.
Some abbreviations frequently found in Court Records Digest extracts are :
@ --> original document
/s/ --> signature
admr / admor / adm --> Administrator
admrx / admorx / admx --> Administratrix
ads --> adverse
assee --> assignee
dec'd --> deceased
DT / Deed T --> Deed of Trust
endee --> endorsee
exor / exr / extr --> Executor
exorx / exrx / extrx --> Executrix
FN --> Free Negro
gdn --> guardian
GO --> Guardian of
-mr- --> marriage referenced
OOP --> Overseers of the Poor
pd --> attorney for the defendant
pq --> attorney for the prosecution
Tr --> Trustee
vs --> versus
District Court records are being made available in the Digest even
though indexing is still not completed. Additional Court records will be made available as they
are indexed and prepared for presentation.
Court Records Digest Search
District Court Records
The index, containing over 12,000 entries to almost 1,100 records, is arranged by
alphabetical group. Multiple listings of a word indicate that the word appears in a number of
records. Start your search by selecting the first letter of your search word :
This is the [an error occurred while processing this directive] consultation of the Court Records Digest
since October 25, 1997.
Copyright © Spotsylvania Co VAGenWeb
last modified: October 25, 1997
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