Nottoway County (Va.) Judgments, 1814-1937

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

Summary

Creator:
Nottoway County ( Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Nottoway County (Va.) Judgments, 1814-1937, contain civil cases in which justice was administered on the strictly formulated rules of common law. The majority of cases in this record series relate to matters of debt. The records consist of processed, loose records.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type: Judgments are identified as civil suits, often involving debt, heard by a jury on the "law" side of the court as opposed to the "chancery" (or equity) side. Should the defendant not have funds to repay the debt, the court ordered their property (including enslaved people) to be seized and sold to repay the debt owed to the plaintiff. Judgments also contain suits brought by enslaved people seeking to gain their freedom.

In Judgments, an assumpsit or declaration (sometimes referred to as a narratio) lays out the plaintiff's grievance as a petition acted as a formal application to the court requesting judicial action. Judgment suits also generally included record types like subpoenas, summons, and exhibit. Judgments may also include additional documentations such as executions, bonds, and various kinds of writs.

Judgment suits make up a large quantity of a locality's records; consequently, they provide a great deal of information concerning the activities and interests of the people who lived in the locality. Since the vast majority of judgment suits relate to financial matters, they are a valuable resource in studying the economic and social history of Virginia localities and are the impotence for many chancery suits.

Locality History: Nottoway County was named for the Nottoway River or for the Nottoway Indian tribe. The county was formed from Amelia County by a statue adopted on 22 December 1788 to take effect 1 May 1789. The county seat is Nottoway.

Lost Locality Notes: Many records were destroyed or heavily mutilated in 1865 by Union troops during the Civil War. A few volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Nottoway County in an undated accession.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into one series:

  • Series I: Judgments, 1814-1937

Physical location:
State Records Center-Archives Annex, Library of Virginia
Physical description:
27.45 cubic feet (61 boxes)