USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Colonial justice in western Massachusetts, 1639-1702; the Pynchon court record, an original judges' diary of the administration of justice in the Springfield courts in the Massachusetts Bay Colony > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
The original return made by Pynchon and Holyoke to the County Court at Cambridge denying the existence of a capital case is in the possession of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. (It is printed as an Appendix to illustrate the judicial integration of the frontier and the Bay.) Apparently the County Court took no action upon the return.
it refused to take a case referred by a County Court.
2 ibid. 198; 4 ibid. (Part II) 500.
9 2 ibid. 207; 4 ibid. (Part I) 420; 4 ibid. (Part II) 45, 79, 541.
10 4 ibid. (Part II) 351, 406, 501, 540 (review) , 555; 5 ibid. 397, 427.
11 4 ibid. (Part I) 191, 227-228, 297, 396-397, 398; 4 ibid. (Part II) 91, 327, 353, 427; 5 ibid. 7, 69, 117, 147, 173, 264.
12 4 ibid. (Part II) 290, 316, 373-375 (Anabaptists) ; 5 ibid. 272, 330.
13 3 ibid. 414.
68
INTRODUCTION
Court of Assistants
The Court of Assistants, also known as the Great Quarter Court, was held quarterly at Boston until 1649 when its sittings were re- duced to twice a year. This judicial body at first exercised broad original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, including exclusive jurisdiction in capital and criminal causes extending to life, member, or banishment and, later, in divorce cases.14 It also exercised appellate jurisdiction over the Inferior Quarter Courts, which later developed into the County Courts; over Associate Courts until 1670; and over single magistrates and commissioners for ending small causes until at least 1648, and perhaps later.15 Several General Court orders lim- ited the original jurisdiction of the Court of Assistants. By an order of September 6, 1638 a plaintiff in such court bringing a civil action under twenty shillings, cognizable by a single magistrate or by com- missioners to end small causes, was to lose his action and pay defend- ant costs. A May 1649 order provided that the Court of Assistants was not to take cognizance of any case or action triable in any County Court or of any debt or action cognizable by any one magistrate or any three commissioners for trial of causes under forty shillings, ex- cept by way of appeal. Under the laws of 1660 the Court of Assist- ants was to hear and determine all and only actions of appeal from inferior courts, plus cases of disagreement between bench and jury in such courts.16 However, original jurisdiction was retained over se- rious offenses and divorce causes.
In some instances the laws of the colony specifically provided for concurrent jurisdiction by the Court of Assistants and the County Courts.17 In a few cases the General Court and the Court of Assist- ants were given concurrent jurisdiction; in others, the General Court, the Court of Assistants and either two magistrates or the County Courts.18 In several laws provision was made for binding over of offenders or recalcitrants to the Court of Assistants by magistrates, commissioners, or a County Court.19
The part played by the Court of Assistants in the administration 14 2 ibid. 285. 1 Col. Laws Mass., 1672 36.
15 4 Rec. Mass. Bay (Part II) 452; Laws and Liberties Mass. 2. Cf. note 16 below.
16 I Rec. Mass. Bay 239; 2 ibid. 279; Col. Laws Mass., 1660 143, 167.
17 Laws and Liberties Mass. 17-18, 22, 25-26. Information or complaints of gates or rails erected on common highways might be made to the Court of Assistants, the County Courts or a single magistrate (ibid. 25) .
18 Ibid. 28, 36-37, 45.
19 Grantors refusing to acknowledge a previous grant, in certain cases (ibid. 13) ; suspected Jesuits not cleared by "some of the Magistrates" (ibid. 26) ; traders refus- ing to account on oath to a magistrate as to furs traded (ibid. 26) ; and stranger Quakers apprehended (Col. Laws Mass., 1672 61-62) . Persons refusing to take the oath of fidelity before a magistrate or County Court might be bound over to the Court of Assistants (Col. Laws Mass., 1660 183-184) .
MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIAL SYSTEM 69 of justice in western Massachusetts was limited to handling a few cases involving witchcraft or unlawful trading with the Indians.20
County Courts
By 1639 Inferior Quarter Courts (sometimes called Particular Courts) were held each quarter at Ipswich, Salem, Newtown (Cam- bridge) , and Boston by designated magistrates and associates. These courts exercised jurisdiction in all civil causes in which the debt or damage did not exceed ten pounds and all criminal causes not con- cerning life, member, or banishment. Any person aggrieved by any sentence might appeal to the Court of Assistants.21
In May 1642 four shires or counties were set up in the Massachu- setts Bay colony-Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, and Norfolk. By 1648 the use of the term "County Court" had been generally accepted, and the jurisdiction of such courts-all civil causes and criminal causes not extending to life, member, or banishment, subject to ap- peal to the Court of Assistants-corresponded to the territorial lim- its of the respective counties.22 Later, County Courts were author- ized for Piscataqua (Dover and Portsmouth) , York, Hampshire, and Devonshire.23
In addition to such general civil and criminal jurisdiction the County Courts were given jurisdiction in specific judicial and ad- ministrative matters by various laws. Included were such matters as probate and administration, apportionment of charges for the repair of bridges, provision for the maintenance of the ministry, punish- ment of interference with church elections, punishment of heretics, ordering highways laid out, licensing of ordinaries, violation of town orders regulating wages, settlement of the poor, settlement of houses of correction, licensing of new meeting houses, and punishment of vendors charging excessive prices.24
The County Courts exercised concurrent jurisdiction in certain matters with the Court of Assistants or even with the General Court.
20 For the trial of Mary Parsons, wife of Joseph Parsons of Northampton, for witchcraft see 1 Rec. Ct. Assistants Mass. Bay 31, 33. For the trials of James Fuller of Springfield and of Mary Webster of Hadley on witchcraft charges see ibid. 228- 230, 233. For further material on the charges against Mary Parsons at the Coun- ty Court level see 1 Hamp. Cty. Probate Ct. Rec. 158-159; Pynchon Waste Book for Hampshire 120, 122-125. For further refer- ence to Mary Webster see Rec. Cty. Ct. Hamp. 65; 2 Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana (1853 ed.) 454-456. The witch- craft charges against John Stebbins of
Northampton in April 1679 were trans- ferred by the County Court to the Court of Assistants. Rec. Cty. Ct. Hamp. 25, 27. For the cases of John Westcarr and Benja- min Waite, guilty of selling liquor to the Indians without license, see Section VII.
21 1 Rec. Mass. Bay 169, 175.
22 2 ibid. 38, 41, 227; Laws and Liber- ties Mass. 15-16.
23 3 Rec. Mass. Bay 308; 4 ibid. (Part I) 124, 127, 131-132; 4 ibid. (Part II) 82; 5 ibid. 16-17, 30.
24 Col. Laws Mass., 1672 12, 45-46, 59, 61, 64, 79, 84, 104-105, 118, 123, 127, 157- 158, 236, 267.
70
INTRODUCTION
In a large number of instances the County Courts exercised concur- rent jurisdiction with a single magistrate,25 or with two magistrates.26 In a few cases they exercised concurrent jurisdiction with a single magistrate or with commissioners or a single commissioner.27
In some cases a single magistrate was given power to bind offend- ers over to the County Court. Commissioners for ending small causes, having no authority to commit to prison, might charge a constable with carrying a defendant before a magistrate or the County Court, if sitting, to be further proceeded with according to law in the event such defendant, having been sentenced, refused to give his bond for his appearance or satisfaction.28 Under some laws the power of the County Courts might be limited to the punishment of habitual of- fenders.29 By virtue of a few scattered laws jurisdiction was vested in "any court"; 30 such terminology was probably intended to give the County Courts jurisdiction.
25 Administering oaths to clerks of the markets (Laws and Liberties Mass. 3) ; ap- pointing gaugers to view casks (ibid. 6) ; unauthorized taking and using of horses or draft animals (ibid. 7) ; making fires on commons or enclosed grounds (ibid. 22- 23) ; appointing and swearing leather seal- ers and searchers and punishing violation of regulations concerning leather (ibid. 31) ; requiring the taking of the oath of fidelity (Col. Laws. Mass., 1660 183-184) . Also punishing the keeping of unlicensed ordinaries (ibid. 233) ; the performing of servile work on the Sabbath (ibid. 259) ; the taking of certain fish at unseasonable times (Col. Laws Mass., 1672 53), being a scold (ibid. 206) , misbehaving at meeting houses (ibid. 234) and failing to assist in apprehending suspected pirates (ibid. 315- 317) .
26 Assisting selectmen to place unruly, neglected children (Laws and Liberties Mass. 11) ; determining differences con- cerning the settling and providing for poor persons (ibid. 44) ; punishing failure to pay fees for selling or bartering guns, lead or powder with Indians (Col. Laws Mass., 1660 240-241) ; failure to pay im- posts on liquors (ibid. 241) ; assisting se- lectmen in putting orphans out to service (ibid. 260-261) ; punishing those leaving towns to avoid military service (Col. Laws Mass., 1672 248) .
27 Offenses by innkeepers (Col. Laws Mass., 1660 165) ; rude singing in houses of public entertainment (ibid. 228-229) ;
selling inferior beer (Col. Laws Mass., 1672 80) ; riotous and unsober conduct (ibid. 236-237) . A 1675 law gave jurisdiction in cases involving the wearing of unlawful apparel to the County Courts, a single magistrate and the Boston Commissioners Court (ibid. 233) . Prior to the enactment of this law the County Courts had sole jurisdiction in such cases. One 1668 law gave jurisdiction in assault and battery cases to the County Courts, a single magis- trate, a commissioner or an associate (Col. Laws Mass., 1660 261) .
28 Under a 1661 law a magistrate might inflict corporal punishment on youthful offenders or bind them over to the County Court (ibid. 136) . See also Laws and Lib- erties Mass. 37, sub "Marriage," third of- fense. For commissioners see ibid. 8-9.
29 Drawing away the affections of any maid under pretence of marriage without consent of the parents, third offense (ibid. 37) ; Sabbath violations, after third offense (Col. Laws Mass., 1660 189-190) ; vagabond Quakers, after third conviction (ibid. 219) .
30 A 1674 act authorized "any Court or Magistrate" to punish single women, or married women whose husbands were ab- sent, who took in male lodgers despite the disapprobation of selectmen, magistrate, or commissioners (Col. Laws Mass., 1672 216) . Laborers receiving excessive wages and sellers charging excessive prices might be fined by the "Court to which is pre- sented" (Laws and Liberties Mass. 43) .
MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIAL SYSTEM 71
Under the laws of 1648 the County Courts were to hear appeals from the sentences of one magistrate and of commissioners for end- ing small causes. In May 1649 the County Courts were deprived of original jurisdiction in civil actions properly cognizable by a single magistrate or by commissioners to end small causes.31 A few laws sup- plemented the above general appellate provision as to specific of- fenses or matters. 32
Associate Courts and Commissioners Courts
Commencing in 1642 the General Court at various times author- ized associates and/or commissioners, without a magistrate being joined with them, to exercise a limited jurisdiction in civil and crim- inal matters.33 These courts, made up of associates chosen or commis- sioners appointed to hold County Courts, were, however, confined to the eastern portions of the colony. The Commissioners Court at Bos- ton and its predecessor, the Boston "Smal Cort," exercised limited criminal jurisdiction as well as civil.34
Two Magistrates
Two magistrates exercised concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Assistants and with the County Courts in certain matters. They also were given sole authority in a few administrative areas.35 In view of the difficulty of assembling two in some localities, a 1673 law pro- vided that, in counties where only one magistrate resided, action taken by such magistrate, joined with an associate of the County Court, was as valid as if done by two magistrates. In counties having no magistrate, any person with magistratical powers, joined with two associates of the County Court, likewise had the power of two magistrates.36 An examination of practice manuals shows that in England the jurisdiction of two justices of the peace was much more extensive than that of two magistrates in Massachusetts Bay.
31 Ibid. 2; 2 Rec. Mass. Bay 279.
32 Appeal provided from sentence of single magistrate for offense of lying (Laws and Liberties Mass. 35) ; complaint against order of magistrates or Boston Commis- sioners Court compelling idle to work at suitable employment (Col. Laws Mass., 1672 294) .
33 See 2 Rec. Mass. Bay 31, 37, 120, 153; 4 ibid. (Part I) 127-128, 131-132, 135-136, 361; 4 ibid. (Part II) 424, 451, 520; 5 ibid. 5, 17, 23, 30.
34 1 Rec. Mass. Bay 276; 2 ibid. 28; 3 ibid. 244-245.
35 Authority to grant exemption from military duty (Laws and Liberties Mass. 40-41); power to require strangers brought in by masters of ships to give an account of themselves (Col. Laws Mass., 1660 193) ; disposition of orphans without their consent (Laws and Liberties Mass. 12).
Col. Laws Mass., 1672 208.
7 2
INTRODUCTION
Special Commissions
At various times the General Court granted commissions to one or more persons, in some cases magistrates or commissioners for end- ing small causes, conferring jurisdiction which in most cases was sui generis in terms of the established laws. Several such commissions granted for Springfield, Northampton, and Hadley are discussed in Section VI.37 Others were granted for various localities on the eastern frontier.38
A Single Magistrate
In discussing the respective jurisdictions of the Court of Assist- ants and the County Courts it has been noted that, in certain cases, a magistrate exercised concurrent jurisdiction with these courts. The first general grant of civil jurisdiction to a magistrate appears in a September 6, 1638 order that any magistrate in the town in which he lived might hear and determine by his discretion, that is, without a jury, all causes wherein the debt, trespass, or damage did not exceed twenty shillings. Any party finding himself aggrieved by any sentence of any such magistrate might appeal to the Court of Assistants. Al- though the Court of Assistants was at the same time in effect deprived of jurisdiction in such causes, it appears that the Inferior Quarter Courts retained concurrent jurisdiction. In the laws of 1648 the juris- dictional limitation was changed to all causes arising in the county not exceeding forty shillings and the County Courts were designated as the proper appellate bodies.39
The laws of 1648 and those prior thereto, with one short-lived ex- ception, made no provision for exercise of general criminal jurisdic- tion by a single magistrate. Instead, jurisdiction was granted over certain specified offenses. For instance, it was provided that upon complaint any magistrate might hear and determine certain cases of theft committed by settlers or Indians, provided the treble damages awarded or fine imposed did not exceed forty shillings or corporal punishment four stripes.40 It was also provided that a magistrate have
37 See also the authority of the governor in October 1660, in connection with a grant of lands to Major William Hathorne and others on the Hudson River near Fort Orange, to commission some meet person or persons to exercise in the plantation the authority of a magistrate or that of a County Court. 4 Rec. Mass. Bay (Part I) 438. No evidence appears that such a com- mission ever issued.
38 4 ibid. (Part I) 69-70, 109-110, 159, 162-163, 360; 5 ibid. 5, 17.
39 1 ibid. 239; Laws and Liberties Mass. 2, 8-9. See also the provision that unpaid ferrymen might complain to a magistrate and obtain satisfaction (ibid. 22) .
40 Ibid. 5. See also 2 Rec. Mass. Bay 193. A 1645 law, not incorporated in the Laws and Liberties of 1648, provided that a magistrate might hear and determine any offense against order and fine the offender. 2 ibid. 100.
MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIAL SYSTEM 73 jurisdiction over refusals to aid constables in the execution of their office, contempts toward ministers or their preachings, absences or withdrawals from church meetings, gaming offenses, failure to pay certain imposts at trading posts, violations of the law regulating inn- keepers and prohibiting tippling and drunkenness, willful making or publishing of lies, cattle rescues or pound breaches, profane swear- ing, and refusals to watch and ward. In only one law was an appeal specifically reserved (the making or publishing of lies) , but the law regulating appeals appears to contemplate appeals in criminal matters from the jurisdiction of one magistrate to the County Courts.41 In ad- dition, magistrates were given the power to marry,42 to perform vari- ous administrative functions,43 and to assist in the apprehension of offenders or suspected offenders.44
In 1649 the Court of Assistants and the County Courts were for- bidden to assume jurisdiction of any civil action properly cognizable by a single magistrate. Shortly thereafter it was further provided that in all trespass actions in which damages in excess of forty shillings were alleged, but upon hearing it appeared to the court that the dam- ages were under this figure, plaintiff was to lose his action and pay defendant costs. In the 1660 laws the prohibition upon the original jurisdiction of the County Courts was relaxed in defamation and bat- tery actions. 45
Among the laws of 1660 were several authorizing a magistrate to declare forfeited defective casks, to punish gaming and dancing of- fenses, to seize the estate of persons transporting money out of the colony, to commit to prison idlers, runaways, common drunkards, pilferers, common nightwalkers and wanton persons, and to punish willful defacers of public records. In small theft cases, as well as in profane and wicked cursing offenses, jurisdiction was broadened to give courts (presumably the County Courts) , as well as magistrates,
41 Laws and Liberties Mass. 2, 13, 19- 20, 24, 30-31, 35, 44-45, 52. 42 Ibid. 37.
43 These included imprisonment of grantors refusing to acknowledge previous grants (ibid. 13) ; administering oaths to persons adjudging the value of hides ruined by poor workmanship (ibid. 29) ; permitting offers of marriage (ibid. 37) ; putting out to service persons unable through poverty to provide themselves with arms and ammunition (ibid. 41) ; ap- pointing impartial persons to settle dis- putes concerning servants' wages paid in corn (ibid. 38) ; administering oaths to viewers of pipe staves (ibid. 44) ; adjudg-
ing the amount of charges to be paid to recover strays (ibid. 48) ; allowing enter- tainment of or sale of lands to strangers (ibid. 49) ; and certifying as to killing of wolves in connection with bounty pay- ments (ibid. 49) .
44 Persons indicted for capital crimes were to surrender to a magistrate (ibid. 29) . The next magistrate or constable or two of the chief inhabitants had the pow- er to impress men and boats to apprehend runaway servants and persons suspected of ill intentions going away secretly (ibid. 38) .
45 2 Rec. Mass. Bay 279; Col. Laws Mass., 1660 121, 132.
7
INTRODUCTION
cognizance.46 In the case of offenses by innkeepers, jurisdiction was given to the County Courts and commissioners for ending small causes, as well as to magistrates. Both magistrates and such commis- sioners were given authority to punish youthful offenders by corporal punishment (or to bind over to the next County Court) , to punish those unlawfully entertaining servants, students, children, and so on, and to levy penalties on those not recording births, deaths, and mar- riages with clerks of the courts within the time specified.47 Night- walkers apprehended by constables were to give satisfactory explana- tions before a magistrate or a commissioner. Those found drunk or abusing a constable were to be dealt with by a magistrate or if there were none, by a commissioner or one or more selectmen, who for this purpose were given the power of a magistrate. Certain Sabbath violations were to be dealt with by a magistrate, commissioner or se- lectman; other proscribed activities on Saturday or Sunday evenings were to be disposed of by a magistrate or commissioner.48 During this period magistrates were also given additional administrative func- tions.49
Later acts empowered a magistrate to administer corporal pun- ishment to vagabonds, to commit strange Quakers to prison without bail until the next Court of Assistants, to apprehend Quakers who re- turned to the colony, to administer the oath of allegiance, and to com- mit idlers to prison or to compel them to labor at suitable work.50 A single magistrate or commissioner was authorized to whip vagabond Quakers through the town and to commit hardened offenders until the next Court of Assistants, to punish drunken Indians or those pos- sessing liquor without authority, to punish persons taking away ca- noes, to commit to prison those attending Quaker meetings, and to
46 Ibid. 124, 127, 153, 182, 187, 189, 194.
Ibid. 136, 165, 188.
48 Ibid. 164, 189-190, 198-199.
49 These included the power to impress workmen to repair bridges (Col. Laws Mass., 1660 127) ; to administer oaths to gaugers or packers (ibid. 124) ; to impress laborers on public works and to establish their wage rates (ibid. 160); to allow liquor for medicinal purposes to Indians (concurrent with two commissioners) (ibid. 163) ; and to constitute the commit- tee of militia in each town, along with the three chief military officers (ibid. 178). See also a May 1662 law that the plaintiff in a civil cause was to stand the charges of defendant's imprisonment if the latter de-
posed before a magistrate that he was not worth five pounds (ibid. 221) .
50 Col. Laws Mass., 1660 221; Col. Laws Mass., 1672 60-62, 236, 237, 262-263, 294. See also the requirements that all Quaker books and writings and certain other banned books be turned over to a magis- trate (ibid. 60-61) ; that dice be turned over to a magistrate or a commissioner (ibid. 58) ; and that piratical practices be disclosed to a magistrate or some other person in authority (ibid. 211) . A tempo- rary law empowered any magistrate to commit, without bail or mainprise, certain Anabaptists not leaving the jurisdiction within a specified time until they gave sufficient security to depart (ibid. 246- 247) .
75
MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIAL SYSTEM
punish those failing to report profane oaths and curses. Authority was given to a single magistrate, a commissioner or selectmen to enforce the law against tippling and to return to the County Court all keepers of private unlicensed houses of entertainment.51
Persons Vested with Magistratical Powers
Since the number of magistrates was limited, the General Court found it advisable to vest certain persons from time to time with what it termed "magistratical powers." The first instance is found in May 1657 when certain persons were authorized by the General Court to act in criminal matters as one magistrate might act. Less wholesale appointments were made later for various parts of the col- ony, particularly the eastern portions, frequently at the request of a particular locality.52 Such powers might also be granted for ad hoc purposes such as the examination of Quakers. In some cases the com- missioners for ending small causes in a particular town might be vested with magistratical powers. In at least one instance the powers granted were limited to offenses not punishable by fines of more than ten shillings or corporal punishment exceeding ten stripes.53
On May 24, 1677 the status of persons vested with magistratical powers was formalized by the following order of the General Court:
Whereas, for the preservation of the peace, suppression of vice, and accommodation of justice in severall parts of this jurisdiction where no magistrate dwells, it hath binn customary for this Court to authorize meet persons of quallity and skill, and them to invest with magistraticall power, it is ordered by this Court, that henceforth all such persons so appointed and allowed shall have commission granted them accordingly from this Court and under the seale of this colony, according to the di- rection of the charter, wherein, shall be incerted the preservation of the peace, taking recognizances and binding over offendors to the County Court to which they belong, punishing all offences whose poenalty is stated by law under forty shillings, or corporall punishment not exceed- ing tenn stripes, in such cases as are by law refferred to the judgment of any one magistrate, taking depositions, joyning persons in marriage ac- cording to lawe, ending small causes and actions not exceeding forty shill- ings; and all this for the time being, and within the precincts of the toune where they dwell.54
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.