The Jury Room in the Historic Williamsburg Court House
Here were heard the debtor's dispute with his creditor, the complaints against the pig stealer, and the apprentice's pleas for protection from an abusive master. Punishment was quick; the whipping post and the public stocks stood just outside, a few steps from the prisoner's dock. Serious cases involving free subjects (ones for which the penalty touched life or limb) were the province of the General Court, which met each April and October in the Capitol. Slaves were tried for felonies by county courts under commissions of oyer and terminer.
When they weren't hearing the petty crimes and civil cases, colonial Virginia's courts acted as community council or board of supervisors. They were the principal agents of local government.
The Jury Room in the Historic Williamsburg Court House
Here were heard the debtor's dispute with his creditor, the complaints against the pig stealer, and the apprentice's pleas for protection from an abusive master. Punishment was quick; the whipping post and the public stocks stood just outside, a few steps from the prisoner's dock. Serious cases involving free subjects (ones for which the penalty touched life or limb) were the province of the General Court, which met each April and October in the Capitol. Slaves were tried for felonies by county courts under commissions of oyer and terminer.
When they weren't hearing the petty crimes and civil cases, colonial Virginia's courts acted as community council or board of supervisors. They were the principal agents of local government.