Virginia : rebirth of the Old Dominion

VIRGINIA 237the jury's verdict being put in effect before there had been furtherinvestigation. No one was permitted to serve on a juryw^ho was unable to show that he possessed an estate of at leastmoderate value.The majority of the cases entered on the docket of the CountyCourt were settled by a decision of the justices without the interventionof a jury. What were their qualifications for suchan important duty? Most of them made no pretension to anexact knowledge of the principles of law ; but as many of themhad been educated in England before their immigration to Virginia,and some of them had served there on the magistrate'sbench, there was not a total lack of information among them,either of the forms of law or of its substance. The rules of Englishpleading, both on the common law and the chancery side,were always strictly followed in their proceedings, and commonsense was relied upon as a guide wherever ignorance of the sciencein minute detail confronted them. Beverley, the historian,who was familiar, both as an observer and as a practitioner, withthe character of the County Courts, complimented their membersas a body by saying that they never admitted unnecessary "impertinencesof form and nicety" ; and that they avoided the"trickery and foppery of the law."It should be borne in mind that the justices were the firstmen in wealth and talent in their several communities, and asthey, as a rule, had sat on the bench during a long period ofyears, it was to be expected that they would show at least practicalefficiency in the performance of their functions on thebench. Moreover, there was not only a collection of law booksavailable in every courthouse, but there were also present, duringevery session of Court, an experienced clerk and a group ofcompetent attorneys. Indeed, the attorneys were so plentiful,as early as 1642, that an Act of Assembly was passed reducingtheir number within more reasonable bounds ; and a schedule offees was also then adopted. Subsequently, this regulation wasmade so severe that the professional lawyer was completely