Bedford County (Va.) Judgments, 1753-1870

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Bedford County (Va.) Judgments, 1753-1870 [insert series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Bedford County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Extent:
96.25 cubic feet (103 boxes); 6 volumes
Creator:
Bedford County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Bedford County (Va.) Judgments, 1753-1870 [insert series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Bedford County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Bedford County (Va.) Judgments, 1753-1870, contain civil cases heard in County Court, Superior Court of Law, Circuit Superior Court, and Circuit Court in which justice was administered on the strictly formulated rules of common law. The majority of cases in this record series relate to matters of debt. The records consist of several volumes and loose records.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type: Judgments are identified as civil suits, often involving debt, heard by a jury on the "law" side of the court as opposed to the "chancery" (or equity) side. Should the defendant not have funds to repay the debt, the court ordered their property (including enslaved people) to be seized and sold to repay the debt owed to the plaintiff. Judgments also contain suits brought by enslaved people seeking to gain their freedom.

In Judgments, an assumpsit or declaration (sometimes referred to as a narratio) lays out the plaintiff's grievance as a petition acted as a formal application to the court requesting judicial action. Judgment suits also generally included record types like subpoenas, summons, and exhibit. Judgments may also include additional documentations such as executions, bonds, and various kinds of writs.

Judgment suits make up a large quantity of a locality's records; consequently, they provide a great deal of information concerning the activities and interests of the people who lived in the locality. Since the vast majority of judgment suits relate to financial matters, they are a valuable resource in studying the economic and social history of Virginia localities and are the impotence for many chancery suits.

Locality History:Bedford County was named probably for John Russell, fourth duke of Bedford, who served as secretary of state for the southern department from 1748 to 1751 and had general supervision of colonial affairs. It was formed from Lunenburg County in 1753, and parts of Albemarle and Lunenburg Counties were added in 1755. The county court first met on 5 May 1754. The county seat is the town of Bedford.

Types of Courts

The County Court was the original colonial court of adjudication and recordation, and it was the principal tribunal for the administration of local justice. The individual justices could act on small claims matters as well as criminal matters where imminent bodily harm was a possibility, there being an appeal to the full County Court, which met monthly. This court ceased to exist in 1904 and the recordation function was transferred to the circuit court.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Bedford County in an undated accession. Additonal judgments were purchased from L and T Repess Books in 2004 and accessioned under number 41494.
Processing information:

Prior to 2026, the judgement descriptive records were not standardized in their inclusion of contextual information or content lists. Local Records staff reviewed this record and have updated to current standards as of 2026.

Encoded by G. Crawford: 2006; updated by J. Taylor: June 2026.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into three series:

  • Series I: Processed Judgments, 1753-1870
  • Series II: Unprocessed Judgments, 1757-1930
  • Series III: Judgment Volumes, 1872-1909

Physical location:
Library of Virginia, State Records Center - Archives Annex