Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-11-10
same, as is is recorded in Book A Of
Court Minutes, the original records of
our Countv.

Court Minutes, the original records of
our County
Gloucester, We 2Sth May, 1886.
BY the Propryetors. Freeholders and
inhabitants oil the Third and Fourth
Tenths (alias county of Gloucester) then
Agreed as followeth
lmprimis. That Court be held for
the Jurisdiction and limits OF the afore-
said Tenths or County, one tyne at Ar
wames alias Gloucester and another
TYNE at Red Bank.
Item. That there be fewer courtes fer
the Jurisdiction aforesaid held in one
year at ye days and tymes hereafter men
toned, viz upon We first day OF We first
month, upon We first day Of We fourth
month, on we first day OF We seventh
month and upon We first day Of We tenth
month
Item. That the first Court shall be
held at Gloucester aforesaid upon the first
day OF September next.
ltem.-That all warrants and summons
shall be drawne by the Clerke OF the
Courte and signed by the Justice and soc
delivered to the Sherffe or his Deputy
to Execute.
Item. That the bodye of each war
rant etc. shall contayne or intimate the
nature OF the action
Item. That a copy OF the Declara-
ton be given along with We warrant by
the Clerke OF the Court, that soc the De-
PENDANT may have the longer TYNE to
consider the same and prepare his
answer.
Item. That all summons. warrants,
etc, shall be served and ~ clarations
given at least ten days befl i've Court.
Item. That the Sheriffe shall give the
Jury summons six days before the Court
be held on which they are to appear.
Item. That all persons within We
Courte We mark of their Hogs and other
Cattell, in order to be approved and Re-
corded"
The effect OF this document was to
erect the two precincts into one County.
to ordain regular Court and provide
officers similar to those already existing
in the jurisdiction of Salem and Burling-
ton, and prescribe the method OF legal
practice. 1t was one of the first acts
relative TO the practice of the law in
force in the State. During the year be-
fore the adoption OF this County Consti-
tuition, members of the General Assem-
bly, had been returned from the Third
and Fourth tenths, although those pre-
cincts had not, at that time, been digni-
fed by a name, and the following justices
were chosen for the same, to wit Fran
els Collins and Thomas Thackera for fhe
Third Tenth, and Andrew Robinson for
the Fourth Tenth. These names appear
as the Justices holding the first Court OF
Sessions under the County Constitution.
From 1886 to 1894 the County Govern
ment and Courts existed by virtue of this
compact between the inhabitants and
the proprietoIs, and in the latter year
the local courts were organized under
the authority of an act passed by the
General Assembly.
This ends the first period to which at
tention has already been directed.
The disturbances in the Province
caused by the efforts of Edward Billinge
to assume the powers of government re-
suited in failure of the General Assem-
bly, to meet in annual session after 1855,
and until 1894 1t was during this period
that the inhabitants of Gloucester, being
unable to obtain relief from the Assem-
bly,, organized the County Courts.
After the disturbances had ceased, the
General Assembly resumed its session,
and on May ~, 1894, the Counties of
Burlington, Salem and Gloucester, were
formally laid out, the territorial limits of
the latter being co-extensive with the
bounds of the third and fourth tenths,
created under the Concessions
From 1894 until the proprietors sur
rendered the powers Of government in
1902, Gloucester County returned MEM
bers to the General Assembly, which
body each year appointed for the County
the requisite number Of Justices, a
Sheriff, Clerk, Coroner, and in some in
stances a Kings Attorney
Among the Justices are found the fol-
lowing names: Samuel Spicer, Thomas
Gardner, Andrew Robinson, John Ram
bo, John Kay, William Cooper and James
Whiteall. The Sheriffs were Joseph
Tomlinson, Joshua Lord, William War
ner and Matthew Medcalf The Clerk
during most of the period was John
Reading, and the Kings Attorneys were
Joseph Tomlinson and John Wood.
In virtue of the surrender from the
by the REIMBURSEMENT of
April Is, 1902, and the acceptance there
of dated April II, 1902, the right eli gov
ernment and the power to create politi-
cal Subdivisions and constitute Courts,
became vested in the Sovereign Queen
Anne, who on November 16, 1902, in in
given Edward Lord Cornbury,
Captain General and Governor in Chief
over Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, defined
and prescribed the fundamental rights
and privileges OF the inhabitants, and
the authority and powers of the Cover
nor with relation to the establishment of
Courts, both for the Province and the
various counties.
Under these instructions and the power
granted by the English Sovereign, the
Courts of New Jersey, substantially as
they now exist, both of the State and
Counties, were either continued or crea-
ted, and so remained until the adoption
of the first State Constitution in 1916,
when they were recognized as part of the
common or unwritten law of the State
and continued with the same jurisdic-
ton, powers and functions.