A Guide to the Staunton (Va.) Commonwealth Causes and Criminal Papers, 1807-1919
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Barcode numbers: 1184512-1184541
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
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Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
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© 2008 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Sarah Nerney
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
For Commonwealth Causes, use microfilm, Staunton (Va.) Reels 16-46.
Preferred Citation
Staunton (Va.) Commonwealth Causes and Criminal Papers, 1807-1919. Local government records collection, Staunton (City) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.
Acquisition Information
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Staunton under the accession number 43238. The microfilm was generated by Backstage Library Works through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program.
Historical Information
The city of Staunton is located in Augusta County. Established as a town in 1761, it was incorporated as a town in 1801 and as an city in 1871. It is one of Virginia's independent cities and therefore functions administratively separately from the county in which it is located.
Scope and Content
Staunton (Va.) Commonwealth Causes and Criminal Papers, 1807-1919, are criminal court cases and other criminal papers that consist primarily of warrants, summons, subpoenas, indictments, recognizances, and verdicts handed down by grand juries and other legal authorities in order to prosecute individuals who violated the penal code. These offenses ranged in severity from murder, rape, assault and battery, and larceny to tax evasion, slander, liquor law violations, prostitution, and contempt of court. Criminal offenders and victims who appear in cases prior to the abolition of slavery in Virginia in 1865 included both free and enslaved persons.
Warrants were issued by grand juries, judges, and justices of the peace directing law enforcement officials to either arrest and imprison a person suspected of having committed a crime or to cause an individual to appear in court to answer accusations made against them. Peace warrants directing an offender to keep the peace of the Commonwealth or to restrain from any violent acts are commonly found in assault and battery cases.
Summonses were used to call a suspected person to appear in court. A summons could also be issued to direct witnesses or victims to come before the court in order to provide evidence or information deemed pertinent to a case. Subpoenas were also used to order witnesses to court to give evidence.
An indictment is the official, written description of the crime that an accused individual is suspected of committing, which is approved by a grand jury and presented to a court in order to begin legal proceedings. Due to this process, indictments are often referred to as presentments.
Verdicts are the formal pronouncements made by juries on issues submitted to them by a judge or other law enforcement official. In the case of a guilty verdict, a judge will sentence the offender. Sentences may include a fine, corporal punishment, and/or imprisonment.
Recognizances were bonds or obligations made in court by which a person promised to do a certain thing such as keep the peace or to appear when called. They are common in assault and battery cases. Often they functioned as a bail bond that guaranteed an unjailed criminal defendant's return for a court date.
Overseers of the Poor causes consist of prosecutions for bastardy or summons to show cause why a child should not be bound out as an apprentice or why an apprenticeship bond should not be broken.
Certificates of justice were notices sent by the jailer that he had committed a certain person or persons to the jail to await trial or other court action.
Arrangement
Arranged by ended court date then alphabetically by defendant surname.
Index Terms
- Staunton (Va.) Circuit Court.
- African Americans -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Apprentices -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Assault and battery -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Contempt of court -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Crime -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Criminals -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Forgery -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Illegitimacy -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Larceny -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Libel and slander -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Liquor laws -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Murder -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Prostitution -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Rape -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Slaveholders -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Slaves -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Tax evasion. -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Staunton (Va.) -- History.
- Indictments -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Local government records -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Subpoenas -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Summons -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Verdicts -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Warrants -- Virginia -- Staunton.
- Staunton (Va.) Corporation Court.
- Staunton (Va.) Hustings Court.
Corporate Names:
Subjects:
Geographical Names:
Genre and Form Terms:
Added Entry - Corporate Name:
Commonwealth Causes of Interest
slave going at large and hiring himself out
printing a false and scandalous libel
uttering opprobrious words to a justice of the peace
fornication with a female slave
sending a challenge to fight a duel
refuse to help constable take a slave to the whipping post
being at an unlawful meeting with slaves
for not registering as free negroes
habitual intoxication, abuse of his family and obscene language
for not registering as free negroes
public nuisance: slaughterhouse
permit his slaves to trade as free persons
obscene graffiti
use provoking language to a white man
permit unlawful assembly of slaves, trade with slaves, sell liquor to slaves
publicly exposing his private parts
playing at bagatelle
assemble with negroes in the night time
lewd and lascivious cohabitation
received goods stolen from Confederate States government
attempted rape of his daughter
rape of multiple children under 12 years of age
keep house of ill fame
buggery with a mare
sell liquor on an election day
public nuisance: backhouse and privy
seduction under promise of marriage
seduction under promise of marriage
extortion and blackmail
exhibit semi-nude photograph in his window
seduction
abduction with the intent to deitem
permitting the escape of a prisoner from the county jail
house burning
escape from jail
murder
possession of cocaine with the intent to sell; selling cocaine
attempted murder
illegal voting
buggery with a child
bigamy