Staunton (Va.) Judgments, 1807-1930

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:

Staunton (Va.) Judgments, 1807-1930 [insert series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Staunton Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Extent:
15.55 cubic feet (35 boxes) 3 volumes
Creator:
Staunton (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Staunton (Va.) Judgments, 1807-1930 [insert series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Staunton Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Staunton (Va.) Judgments, 1807-1930, contain unprocessed civil cases 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. This collection may include other record series such Commonwealth Causes, Bonds/Commissions/Oaths, Road and Bridge Records, etc.

All records in this record series are unprocessed and remain tri-folded within their original bundles; the bundles also include other court records, such as commonwealth causes, road and bridge records, tax and fiscal records, Overseers of the Poor, etc. Not all record types will be found in every bundle of papers. The contents of the boxes are not arranged in any particular order and dates may overlap between boxes. Some records may be fragile.

The judgment volumes were used to record liens on property placed during case proceedings in Staunton's Hustings Court.

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: Staunton, in Augusta County, was named, according to most authorities, for Rebecca Staunton, wife of Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. Staunton was laid out in 1748 at the site of the Augusta County courthouse and was established as a town in 1761. It was incorporated as a town in 1801 and as a city in 1871.

Types of Courts

The Staunton Hustings Court was established in 1802 upon Staunton being granted its own municipal court, separate from Augusta County, to record deeds, probate wills, handle all criminal and civil law cases for the town of Staunton. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was also referred to as the Corporation Court. The Hustings Court was formally abolished in 1973 under Virginia's Court Reorganization Act with the Circuit Court acting as the sole judicial body for the city of Staunton.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in a shipment of court papers from the city of Staunton in 2007 under accession number 43238 as well as in an undated accession.
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 S. Walters: 2013; updated by J. Taylor: May 2026.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into two series:

  • Series I: Unprocessed Judgments, 1807-1930
  • Series II: Judgment Volumes, 1850-1905

Physical location:
Library of Virginia