Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-11-24
EARIY COURT PROCEDURE.
Confined from last week


sssigns, five years in Barbados, Jamaica,
sor some island adjacent, where ye sd
master shall dispose of him, web OF ye
stwo punishments to undergo is left to
ssye prisoners own choice. To which
sentence We Bench assents and allsoe
ssorder ye sd Hill to like punishment Of
Burning or to serve as aforesaid ye num-
sber four years to be at his owne choice.
'sBoth of We prisoners chuse transporta-
sstion and We clerk is ordered te draw
estheir indentures to serve accordingly"
At Court held at Gloucester June !,
1886, the Grand Jury divided the County
into townships, pursuant to the authority
granted by the General Assembly at
recent session.
At the September term, 1897, the min
utes of the Quarter Sessions and Common
Pleas are for the first time kept sepa
rately.
The first record OF the probate of a
will in Gloucester County appears by the
following minute of a special Court held
at Gloucester, July Sth, 1897
ssThe will oil Thomas PostOn being
'sproduced in Court by Samuel Harrison,
executor thereof, who Graves probate
thereof, which is granted and We clerk
ssordered to give forth We same, and take
security of his faithful administration
and bringing in of true inventory of
eve deceased estate at ye next Court.
The practice of reading in full the va
rious acts of the latest session of the
General Assembly was early adopted.
For the first time within the history OF
the Province, Governor graced the
Gloucester County Court with his pres
ence, at the September Sessions, 1893,
when Governor jeremiah Bass sat on the
Bench. He was accompanied by Thomas
Reyell, the provincial secretary.
In many instances offenders were SEN
fenced by the jury, or at least the char
acter of the penalty was suggested. John
Richards was found guilty OF perjury,
and by the Jury sentenced to pay
twenty pounds fine or stand in ye pill
Glory one hour, to which ye Bench as
''sents and ye prisoner chusing to stand
sin We pillory they award and order the
same to be in Gloucester, on ye tenth
day of April next, between we hours of
ssten in We morning and four IN We alter
moon, and condescend to take his own
"bond for his appearance at that tyne
''under ye penalty and fortification of
fifty pounds.
The first ferry licensed by the County
Court was one from Gloucester to Pbila-
delphia in 1858. Subsequently other fer
ries were permitted at Coopers Creek
and Timber Creek, and the rates of toll
established.
The County Court and Grand Jury
acting under the authority of the County
Constitution performed many acts OF
legislative assembly. The first tax act
was passed or ordered by the Grand Jury
in 1857 and that body continued to levy
taxes until 1904 when the power was, by
the General Assembly, given to the
County Justices with the advice, con
currence and assistance OF the Grand
Jury" Afterwards the authority to levy
taxes was vested in the Justices and
Chosen Freeholders, until the Boards
of Freeholders We're organized as they
exist to-day, in l79S.
At the June Session in l70l, the fol-
lowing incident occurred:
civilian Sweet committed for break
Sing ye house Of Samuel Coles and steal
Hing sundry goods out, to ye value of ten
pence, is brought to We barr, his indict-
''menb is read and ye prisoner confesseth
ito ye fact; The Bench awards Judg-
sment that We prisoner be taken and
''pnplicly whipped this present evening
with twenty-one stripes upon his bare
'sback and to be discharged paying OF
.shis fees F"
On March j, l70l the Governor of the
Provence, Andrew Hamilton, attended
Court and presided over proceedings.
The fact of the surrender of severe
ignty to the Brown appears by the
following:
sHere ends the Proprietary Govern
''ment of ye Providence OF West New
3Jarsie in America"
There seems to have been, a lapse in
the holding of the County Courts about
this time, as the minutes show that the
sessions were not resumed until Decem-
Der 8, 1905, some three years after the
surrender Quite likely this was the
result of the confession attendant upon
the transfer of the management and con-
troll of the government and the uncertain
status OF the public officials.
Ltigants became to be represented by
lawyers as early as 1928, and in that year
quite a number of cases were listed as
pending, in which the members OF the
bar representing one side or the other
were Price, Evans, Macbride and Bass.
The last named had served the Governor
and Macbride was the Attorney General
for several years.
!, In the minutes for May 6, 1724. the
following curious circumstance is chron-
icled:
sWe ye Grand Inquest being We body
tsef Gloucester taking into our considefa-
s'tion concering Burning the prison dore
ssof said County, do find that Henry
s'WiIe did on ye 10Th day OF April last
s'set on fire ye prison Dore on purpose to
s'make his escape against ye peace OF our
Lord ye King but not to burn ye prison
"house.
The people OF the County, as rule,
were law abiding, and that lack of
patriotic reverence to the Sovereign did
not receive the approval of the Court is
exempli6ed by the sentence which was
imposed upon one Daniel Jones in 1879,
for speaking reasonable words, to which
offence he had pleaded guilty. The
Judgment was that Eye defendant be-
whipp with nine lashes on ye bare back
'f(this day. well laid on and that he