Buena Vista (Va.) Judgments, 1892-1985

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

Extent:
Microfilm Reels
Creator:
Buena Vista (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Buena Vista (Va.) Judgments, 1892-1985 contains civil cases in which justice was administered on the strictly formulated rules of common law. The majority of these cases in this record series relate to matters of debt. The records consist of several microfilm reels of judgment volumes.

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:Buena Vista, in Rockbridge County, was built on the site of the abandoned Buena Vista iron furnace. This furnace, which was in operation as late as 1855, was named probably for the Mexican village near which General Zachary Taylor won an important battle in the Mexican War in 1847. Buena Vista was laid out in 1889 and incorporated as a town in 1890. It was incorporated as a city in 1892.

Acquisition information:
Microfilm reels were generated by the Buena Vista Circuit Court and transferred to the Library of Virginia in 2013. The original records are retained in the locality.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into one series:

  • Series I: Judgment Volumes, 1892-1985

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.