Northumberland County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes, 1800, 1859-1898, 1909

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Northumberland County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes, 1800, 1859-1898, 1909. Local government records collection, Northumberland County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Creator:
Northumberland County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Northumberland County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes, 1800, 1859-1898, 1909. Local government records collection, Northumberland County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Northumberland County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes, 1800, 1859-1898, 1909 are criminal court cases and consist primarily of warrants, summons, and indictments handed down by grand juries and other legal authorities in order to prosecute individuals who violated the penal code. These offenses ranged in severity from assault and battery to larceny. Some 1860 causes reference enslaved people arrested for being "at large," as well as cases involving enslaved or free persons.

Warrants were issued by grand juries, judges, and justices of the peace directing law enforcement officials to either arrest and imprison a person suspected of having committed a crime or to cause an individual to appear in court to answer accusations made against them. Peace warrants directing an offender to "keep the peace of the Commonwealth" or to restrain from any violent acts are commonly found in assault and battery cases.

Summonses were used to call a suspected person to appear in court. A summons could also be issued to direct witnesses or victims to come before the court in order to provide evidence or information deemed pertinent to a case.

An indictment is the official, written description of the crime that an accused individual is suspected of committing, which is approved by a grand jury and presented to a court in order to begin legal proceedings. Due to this process, indictments are often referred to as "presentments."

Biographical / historical:

Northumberland County was named probably for the English county. It was formed about 1645 from the district of Chickacoan, the early-seventeenth-century name for the region between the Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers. The date of the county's formation is conjectural because the act of assembly creating it is no longer extant, but internal evidence shows that the county was functioning in 1645. The county suffered some losses in a fire in the clerk's office on October 25, 1710. Volumes beginning in 1650 that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist. The county seat is Heathsville.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Northumberland County under the accession number 43283.
Arrangement:

Chronologically by year, but unprocessed and not arranged within years.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.45 cu. ft.