PUBLIC "-//Library of Virginia//TEXT (US::Vi::vi03453::A Guide to the Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809)//EN" "vi03453.xml" A Guide to the Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809 Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809 1115970-1115975, 0007573138 Greg Crawford Library of Virginia © 2012 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Conditions of Use

Machine-readable finding aid derived from MARC record, created by Greg Crawford, 23 February 2012 Description is in English 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809 A Collection in the Library of Virginia 1115970-1115975, 0007573138 Greg Crawford

Library of Virginia 2012 unprocessed Library of Virginia Descriptive Summary The Library of Virginia Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809 1115970-1115975, 0007573138 Library of Virginia 6.35 cu. ft. (7 boxes) English Brunswick County (Va.) Circuit Court Administrative Information Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809. Local government records collection, Brunswick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Brunswick County.

Historical Information

Brunswick County was named for the duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg, one of the German possessions of King George I. It was formed by statute in 1720 from Prince George County and on 31 October 1723 the boundaries of the county were ordered to be laid out, but, because of the sparse population, the county court first met in June 1732. Brunswick County was enlarged by the addition of parts of Surry and Isle of Wight Counties in 1733. The county seat is Lawrenceville.

The District Court was created in 1788. The purpose of the creation of the District Court was to alleviate congestion in the General Court which had caused unreasonable delays in the adjudication of common law cases. Virginia was divided into eighteen districts, each composed of several counties, plust the district of Kentucky. Courts were held in each district twice yearly and cases were heard from the several counties in that district. The District Court always met at the same place in each district, and its records were kept at that one location. The District Courts were abolished in 1809 and were replaced by the Superior Courts of Law.

The District Court at Brunswick County included the following localities: Brunswick, Greensville, Lunenburg, and Mecklenburg counties.

Scope and Content

Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809, consist of civil suits and commonwealth causes that were heard in the District Court of Brunswick County. The majority of cases in this record series relate to matters of debt. Documents commonly found in civil suits include declarations or narratios that explain the plaintiff's complaint, executions, affidavits, and depositions. Suits may include exhibits such as wills, plats, deeds, indentures, estate inventories, and business records. Names of slaves are commonly found in the District Court records. Additional types of suits heard by the District Court include land ejectment suits and petitions for freedom made by slaves.

Adjunct Descriptive Data Related Material

Additional Brunswick County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm.

 Index Terms Corporate Names: Brunswick County (Va.) Circuit Court Subjects: African Americans -- History Civil procedure -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Crime -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Debt -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Estates (Law) -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Right of property -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Slaveholders -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Slaves -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Geographical Names: Brunswick County (Va.) -- History Greensville County (Va.) -- History Lunenburg County (Va.) -- History Mecklenburg County (Va.) -- History Genre and Form Terms: Affidavits -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Business records -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Deeds -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Decisions -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Depositions -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Judicial records -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Local government records -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Petitions -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Plats -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Wills -- Virginia -- Brunswick County Added Entry - Corporate Name: Brunswick County (Va.) District Court