Shenandoah County (Va.) Judgments, 1838-1915

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:

Collection is open to research.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Shenandoah County(Va.) Judgments, 1838-1915 [insert series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Shenandoah County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
13 volumes
Creator:
Shenandoah County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Shenandoah County(Va.) Judgments, 1838-1915 [insert series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Shenandoah County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Shenandoah County(Va.) Judgments, 1838-1915, contain 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. The records consist of thirteen volumes.

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:Shenandoah County was named for the Shenandoah River, which passes through the county. The county was named Dunmore when it was formed from Frederick County in May 1772. A statute changed the name of the county effective 1 February 1778. The county seat is Woodstock.

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 1919 and the recordation function was transferred to the circuit court.

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Shenandoah County under 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 J. Taylor: June 2026.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into one series:

  • Series I: Judgment Volumes, 1838-1915

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.