History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 63

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 63
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 63

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These gentlemen retained proprietorship until July 13, 1561, when Mr. Gardner again took possession and remained at its head until April 30, Is70, and mn May 2, of the same year, Mr. J. M. Renck, of the New York Evening Post assumed full proprietor- ship. For six years or until April 1, 1576, the Jour- nul was conducted by Mr. Rouck as a Republicau paper, and on that date he disposed of it to Mr. Oliver Johnson. Mr. Johnson made many improvements in the paper, changing it from a folio to quarto, add- ing new type and expending a large sum in making it conform to his literary and artistic taste. Dur- ing his proprietorship The Journal advanced to a prominent position among the papers of the State, but his efforts did not meet with that substantial appreciation he had every reason to expect. In 1879 the paper was purchased by Mr. Samuel Toombs, who at once changed the character of the paper by confining its work almost wholly to the local field. magnifying local interests, giving full and accurate

1 By Manuel Toonde.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

reports of all local affairs. From a purely rural settlement in 1854, Orange had in 1850 grown into a thickly populated community. The several sub- divisions had branched off into independent town- ship-, while Orange proper became an incorporated city, with a Mayor and Common Council. Other papers had become established, and three weeklies were issued every Saturday in the city. Believing the time had come when the citizens of Orange would appreciate an advance in newspaper work and ser- vice, Mr. Toombs on Wednesday, October 3, 1883, issued The Journal as a semi-weekly. To do this a large outlay became necessary ; new type of every kind was purchased, a radical change in the make- up of the paper was instituted, and the new Jour- nal stepped at once into popular favor, a position it holl- to-day. In May, 1884, The Journal removed into new and more commodious quarters, and it has developed from a purely country weekly of thirty years ago, with limited facilities for job work, into a thoroughly equipped printing office with power presses, and every facility for doing the finest and best qualities of work.

East Orange Gazette is a four page paper, twenty- eight by forty-four inches, thirty-six columns, and was first issued May 1, 1873, by Stephen M. Long, editor and proprietor.

May 1, 1882, Mr. Long sokl his interest in the paper to Mr. Charles Starr, the present editor and proprie- tor. The paper is issued on Thursday of each week, and is mainly devoted to local interests, and in poli- tica, is republican, with a large circulation.

Mr. Starr is a son of Edgar P. Starr of Orange, and was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 19, 1855. In March 1875, he entered the office of the Orange Chronicle as Associate Editor, where he remained until he purchased the Gazette.

The Orange Chronicle .- The first number of the Chronicle was issued January 30, 1869, by Frank W. Baldwin and Joseph Atkinson, the then editors and publishers. During the year 1869, J. B. Loomis purchased Mr. Atkinson's interest in the paper, and in May 1870, Mr. Baldwin secured full control of the paper by purchasing Mr. Loomis's interest, and has since then conducted the editorial and business management of the paper with signal ability and success. The paper has been enlarged three times, and has grown from twenty-four by thirty-six, to twenty-nine by forty-four inches, and is neatly printed on clear white paper. The Chronicle is independ- ent in all things and devoted more especially to the interests of the City of Orange. It is issued on Saturday of each week, and has a circulation of one thousand eight hundred and fitty.

been enlarged from six to eight columns, and is issued on Saturday of each week. It is republican in polities, and devoted to the interests of the county, and Montelair in particular. The circulation of the Times in October 1884, was one thousand.

The Bloomfield Citizen is a weekly publication, issued on Saturday of each week, and is published by the " Bloomfield Publishing Company." The first number was issued in April 1883. It is republican in polities, and has a circulation of about one thousand.

The Gazette was published in Bloomfield several years ago, and was succeeded by The Record, which was established in the early part of 1877, and in the spring of 1883, was sucecoded by the Citizen.

CHAPTER XXVI.

BENCH AND BAR OF ESSEX COUNTY.

THE first Constitution of New Jersey, an instrument entitled: "The Concessions and Agreement of the Lord Proprietors of the Province of Nova Cesarea, or New Jersey," granted in 1664-5 by Lord John Berkley and Sir George Carteret, provided among other things that the General Assembly of the Province should have power "to constitute all courts together with the limits, powers and jurisdictions of the same, as also the several offices and number of the officers belong- ing to each Court, with their respective salaries, fees and perquisites, their appellations and dignities, with the penalties that shall be due to them for the breach of their several and respective duties and trusts."

This Constitution was given not to a people already gathered together and numbered among the recog- nized establishments of the civilized world, but to the civilized world itself, or at least to such "Advent- urers " among mankind as might choose to settle upon and cultivate the virgin soil of this newly discovered portion of the earth.

At the time this Constitution was given, the beanti- ful region which we call New Jersey was in its earliest infaney, only fifty years having elapsed since the first white man had laid his eyes upon it. Only a few Danes and Norwegians had made a settlement upon the lands now bearing the name of Bergen. Only a small establishment had been made on the Eastern shore of the Delaware by a Company of Dutch im- migrants under the leadership of Captain Cornelius Jacobse Mey, who, as he sailed up that river, gave his name to the southern point of New Jersey. Only one or two vessels full of Swedes, following not far behind him, had taken up lands on the river, just near enough

The Montclair Times was established in 1877, by John Campbell, and the first number issued Febru- ! to the Dutch to get them in a fighting mood, and then ary 17th of that year. April 1, 1877, Mr. Campbell . to drive them from their plantations, and finally to sold his interest in the Times, to Mr. A. C. Studer, send them complaining to ohl Governor Peter Stuyve- sant of New Amsterdam. Only two or three fights the present editor and publisher. The paper has

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BENCH AND BAR OF ESSEX COUNTY.

for supremacy had as yet occurred, the first being the one just mentioned, the second being the retaliatory onslaught by Governor Stuyvesant upon the Swedes which resulted in placing the Dutch and Swedes on a most friendly footing ; the third being a battle between the friendly Dutch aud Swedes on one side, and on the · other side a Colony of English from New Haven who, while the Dutch and Swedes were quarrelling, had also quietly settled down upon the banks of the Dela- ware; which battle sent the routed English to com- plain, in their turn, before Charles 11., who sending a lleet to New Amsterdam, first put a quietus upon Governor Stuyvesant, and then with two barrels of gunpowder blew up all the Dutch castles on the Delaware; thus restoring peace and prosperity to all.

This, in a nut-shell, is the history of New Jersey from its discovery by Captain Henry Hudson, to the date of its first Constitution. How it happened to ob- tain that Constitution may be told in a few lines :

Charles Il., after asserting, and thus maintaining his authority in the New World, concluded, as it would seem, to free himself from all further trouble in the management of that portion of his dominions. He therefore released to his brother, the Duke of York, who afterwards became James Il., all that country now known as New Jersey and the Middle States, with " full and absolute power and authority to cor- rect, punish, pardon, govern and rule all such, the subjects of us, our heirs and successors, as shall, from time to time, adventure themselves into any of the Parts and Places aforesaid." And the Duke of York, in consideration of a sum of money (amount not named) sold to Lord John Berkley and Sir George Carteret all that land and territory at present described as New Jersey. And on the 10th of February 1661, the Lords Proprietors appointed one Philip Carteret to be the Governor over the same, with power to nomi- nate twelve able men at most, and six at least, to be his Council and Assistants; at the same time they gave him an instrument in writing called "The con- cession and Agreement of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Nova Cesarea or New Jersey, to and with all and every the Adventurers and all such as shall Settle or Plant there "; and this is known as the First Constitution of New Jersey.

It was for the purpose of bringing settlers into their new domain, that Berkley and Carteret gave this con- stitution to the people who already dwelt, and who might thereafter establish themselves, within their The General Assembly, llon. Philip Carteret being Governor, continued to hold its sessions with great regularity until 1682, and many new and wholesome laws were, year by year, added to the Statute Book. Lord Berkley having grown weary of his AAmerican possessions, had already in 1675 sold his undivided half of New Jersey to John Fenwick and Edward Byllings, members of the Society of Friends. In 1079 Sir George Carteret died, ordering by his will that his share of the province of New Jersey should be sold to borders. It guaranteed religious liberty in its fullest enjoyment, declaring that, " No person shall be any ways molested, punished, disquieted or called in ques- tion for any difference in opinion or practice in mat- ters of religious concernment who do not actually disturb the civil peace of the said Province." It gave the people the power to choose from among themselves deputies or representatives, who being chosen, are to join with the Governor and Council for the making of such laws, ordinances and Constitution as shall be i pay his debts, and it was accordingly sold by his exe-

necessary for the present good and welfare of the said province." It prevented taxation without the consent of the people saying : " No tax, custom or duty what- soever, upon any color or pretence shall be imposed upon the inhabitants of the said province, but by the authority of the General Assembly "; and it provided, as we have already seen, for Courts of Justice for the administration of the laws.

It is probable that the immediate necessity of Courts was not felt, for we find that at the first session of the General Assembly held in Elizabethtown in 1668, no action was taken in this matter. As another session of the General Assembly did not take place until seven years thereafter, it was not carlier than 1675 that the first Courts of Justice were erected in New Jersey by the act of its Legislature. On the 13th day of Novem- ber of that year, an act with a preamble thereto was passed as follows :

"VI. Having taken into Serions Consideration the great Charge that hath lu en occasioned by the Necessity of keeping Courts within this Province, asales the Necessity that Courts of Justice be maintained and upheld munangst us, which said Courts may go nuder the Denominati n of County Courte

" It is Therefore Exerted by this Ambly, that there be two of the aforesunt Courts kept in the year in rach respective County, viz . Bergen and the adjacent plantations about them, to be a County and to have two Courts in a year, where Sessions shall be the first Tuesday in March next, and the last Tuesday in September. E' abethloin and Srueck to make a County and have two Courts in a year, whoer Sessions shall be the second Tuesday in March and third Tuesday in September. Wood- brugge and Fixedtuque to be a County and to have two Courts, the first of them the third Tuesday in March and the around Tuesday in September. The two Towns of Nevysink to make a County their Smeions to be the last Tuesday in March and the first Tuesday in September And for the Conveniencey and Fase of the Inhabitants, and preventing of Charge to the Public or Plantations concerned in each Conuty, that the members of the respective Courts may be elected out of the County to which the aforesaid Court or Courts de belong, and that no Appeal be granted from the Seist County Courts under Twenty Pounds, vacept to the Beuch or to the Court of Chunvery."

The fees of these Courts, including those of the Members, the Jurymen, the Clerks and the Marshals, were all regulated with great nicety.

Another Act was, at the same time, passed by the AAssembly providing for the erection of a "Court of Assize to be held in this Province, the first Tuesday in October yearly in the Town of Woodbridge, or where the Governor and Council shall appoint, if there be occasion thereof, the fees of the Province Court to be double the fees of the County Courts." This was the Supreme Court of the State, and is spoken of in the first Act as the " Bench."

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

cutrix, Lady Elizabeth Carteret, at publie auction, in London, in the month of January 1682. The territory then sold embraced four thousand square miles ; the price at which it was knocked off was £3,400, and the purchasers were William Penn and eleven other citi- zens of London, all of whom were quakers. Within the same year, these twelve purchasers conveyed the one-half of their property to twelve other individuals, and thus was formed the body known in our history as the twenty-four Proprietors of East Jersey. Of course. the first matter for the consideration of these new owners was the condition and wants of their newly acquired realm, and having informed themselves as to these things through an agent who was at once dis- patched to America, they drew up a form of govern- ment which was set out in an instrument entitled "The Fundamental Constitutions for the Province of East New Jersey in America, Anna Domini, 1683."

Under this new Constitution the first General As- sembly was begun and hoklen at Elizabethtown, on the first day of March 1682, and among its first acts we find one entitled " An act to appoint Sheriff's " as follows :

" Forasmuch as there is a necessity of a High Sheriff in every County in this Province, Br it therefore enacted by the Governor, Council and Deputies in General AsseDibly met at assembled, that there be yearly a Sheriff constituted and commissioned for each County, and that each Sheriff may have his I nder-Sheriff, or Deputy."

Immediately after the passage of this act, the neces- sity of defining more accurately the boundaries of the several counties was considered and determined upon as follows :

" Be it enacted by this General Astmhly and the Authority thereof, that this Province be divided into four C'ounties, as followeth :

"Berg " County to contain all the Settlements between Hudson's River end Hackensack River, beginning at Constable's Houk, and so to extend to the nærmest Inmind of the Province Northward between the said Rivers.

"Esses, and the l'ounty thereof, to contain all the Settlements between the West Side of Hoskinsack River and the parting line between Wood- bridge and E'Labeth Teica, and to to extend Westward and Northward, to the utmost Fonds of the Province.

"Middlesex County, to begin from the parting line between Ever County and Woodwridge Line, containing Woodbridge and Piscataway and all the Plantations on both sides the Raritan River, as far as Ches- quake Harbour Eastward, extending Southwest to the Division Line of the Province, and Northwest to the utmost bounds of the Province.

"Monmouth County, to begin at the westward Bounds of Middlesex County, containing Middletonen and Shrewsbury, and to extend Westward, Southwar and Northward to the extreme Bounds of the Province. Provided that this distinction of the Province into Counties do not extend to the infringement of any Liberty in any Charter already granted."

Closely following the passage of this act we find one entitled an " Act to erect a Court of Small Causes," for the more orderly hearing and determining all mat- ters and cases of controversy between party and party, and for the due execution of the laws. In this Court, as may he seen, cases could be tried by three persons without a jury, but the right of trial by jury was held so sacred that no legislature ever dared to deny it, however small the matter that might be involvedl. The words of this act are as follows :

" Be it Enacted by the Governor, Council and Depnties In General An- sembly, met and assembled, and by the Authority of the same, that in every Town in oud throughont this Province of East New Jersey, there be one Court held Monthly and every Month throughout the year, on the first Wednesday of the month, for the determining of Small Canses and Cases of Debt to the Value of Forty Shillings, or under, which causes and cases shall be heard tryed and determined by three persons without a jury : The Process or warning to this Court shall be a Sunnnons under the Hand of a Messenger Ir-longing to the said Court, which being per- sonally served by him, or left at the Defendant's house, four Days before the Court, shall be Authority to and for the Members of the said Court to proceed on such Cases or C'anses ond determine the same in the Defend- ant's absence, if the Members of the l'onrt see not Cause to the contrary, and to grant Execution therein against the Defendant's Person, and for want thereof, his Estate, which the Messenger shall and may serve. Be it further Enacted that the Plaintiff or Defendant desiring a Jury, it shall be allowed, but at the proper Costs and Charges of the Person desiring the same.

" Be it further Enacted that this Act or anything therein contained shall not infringe the Liberty or Privilege of any Grant or Charter already granted."

County Courts, as we have seen, had been already established in 1675, but it becoming necessary to modify them somewhat, the General Assembly, during the same session, passed the following act entitled " An Act to ereet County Courts."

" Be it Enacted by this General Assembly and the Authority thoreof that from henceforth there shall be held and kept in every County within this Province, Courts of Sessions or County Courts, yearly and Every year, for the Hearing. Trying and Determining of all Causes und Cases there brought and commenced, as well Cases and Causes criminal and Cases and Causes civil, Butween Party and Party, which Cases and Canses shall be tried by the Verdict of twelve Men of the Neighbourhood within the County where the Fact shall arise or grow, whether the same be by Indictment, Information, Declaration of otherwise, against the Person, Offender or Defendant ; and that the Judges or Justices of the respective Sessions of I'muty Courts, shall be the Justices of the Peace of every the said resque- tive Counties, or three of them at the least. To which Court shall be- long one Clerk of the Sessions, or Clerk of the Peace, to draw, enter and keep the Records of Indictments, Juformations, Declarations, Ilens, Judgments and Procedures, there to he had and Made, and one Marshall or Cryer of the Court, to call the Jurors, and Proclaim the Commands and Orders of the Court for the regular Procedure in the mid respective Courts. All Prices and Summons of Persons to appear and execute the Judgments and Excutions of this Court shall be directed to the Sheriff of the County, and executed by him, or his Under Sheriff or Deputy, which suid several and respective l'onnty Courts, or Courts of Sessions, shall be held yearly in the respective Time and Places hereinafter following and expressed : (Here the days and Places for holding the Courts are given.)

" Be it Further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that this distinction of Counties and Settlement of the County l'ourts shall nowise infringe nor intrench upon the Liberties or Privileges of any Grunt or d'harter already granted, anything in this Act, or any other to the contrary potwith- standing. Bo it Enacted by this General Assembly that all Process and Summons to the County Courta shall be served six days before the first Day of the session. "

All the Courts that have been thus far described bear titles that have been borrowed from the English tribunals. The Court of Assize established during the administration of Governor Carteret is one of these; but this Court of Assize had no power to de- termine causes in Equity, and in its stead the General Assembly under the new Constitution, erveted a tribunal under the title of the "Court of Common Right." This was doubtless a creation of Robert Barclay who, at that time, was Governor of the Province of East Jersey, but who, being still in Eng- land, was administering the government through his deputy, Gawn Lawrie. Governor Barclay was a Scotchman, and so were many others of the proprie-

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BENCH AND BAR OF ESSEX COUNTY.

tors ; and Judge Richard S. Fickl, in his discourse before the New Jersey Historical Society on the Provincial Courts of New Jersey, says, in his remarks upon this tribunal : "When we add the important fact, that this Court, under its new organization, was empowered to try and determine causes in Equity as well as at Common Law, we shall have no difficulty in discerning the influence of those who were more familiar with Scottish than with English jurispru- dence. For in Scotland, as most of you are doubt- less aware, a Court of Equity, as distinct from a Court of Law, and under the administration of ditfer- ent judges, has never formed a part of their system."

But this Court of Common Right retained its Equity powers only until 1698, in which year was passed " An Act declaring what are the rights and privileges of his Majesty's subjects inhabiting within this Province of East New Jersey," in which, among other things, it was provided : "That the General Assembly of this Province shall constitute all Courts within the same, with their limits, powers and juris- dictions, except the present High Court of Chancery, and all other Courts now in being, and their respee- tive salaries, fees and perquisites. That none be appointed chancellors, judges, members, officers of courts, surveyor-general, or other officers, civil or military, except the Secretary and Register, within this Province, but such as be freeholders residing within the same. And that no Sheriff shall continue in his office above one year at once, nor be liable to serve in that office for three years thereafter. Nor that the Judges of the Court of Common Right for the time being, shall not be Judges of the High Court of Chancery, and any law, custom or usage, Heretofore to the contrary notwithstanding."

It will be seen by the laws thus far quoted, and which may be found in a book known as "Grants and Concessions and Original Constitution of the Province of New Jersey, &e.," that although various courts were established, their jurisdiction defined, and the number of judges prescribed, yet nothing is said concerning the manner in which they were to be conducted, nor of the rules by which they were to be governed, nor of the sentences to be by them im- posed. A High Sheriff' was required in every county, but nothing is said in regard to his powers and duties. Grand Juries were provided for, who were to present all offinees against the laws, but of whom those grand jurors were to be composed, or how con- vened, or what was to be the manner of their pro- ceedings, no legislative act declares. All this seems very strange, and we should be naturally inclined to think that such laws must forever remain a dead letter upon the statute book. In speaking of this matter, Judge Field, in his able " Discourse " above alluded to, says : "But, be it remembered, our fathers brought with them from England the common law. It was their birth-right, their inheritance; and they transplanted it along with themselves to this conge-

nial soil where it at once took root and flourished. Its ample folds covered all the nakedness of our primitive enactments. Its abundant resources sup- plied all their deficiencies. It furnished the key with which to unlock the hidden meaning of the statute." And in speaking of this common law, he says : " It was the common law, in the state to which it was brought during the reign of the Second Charles, purified from the corruptions and redeemed from the abuses which long ages of tyranny and mis- rule had engrafted upon it."

Our means of information concerning the manner in which the business of the courts of those early days was conducted, are very limited. That every thing in this respect was characterized by the greatest simplicity and utter want of ceremony cannot be doubted : and, as an illustration of this, historians are wont to cite the methods of Governor Thomas Olive, who, while he held the office of a Judge iu West Jersey, often discharged his duties "to good «feet in the seat of judgment on the stumps in his meadows;" and at times, too, " he contrived to post- pone sudden complaints, till cool deliberation had shown them to be justly founded, and then seldom failed of accommodating matters without much ex- pense to the parties."

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 63

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840