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The '''General Court''' was the first and highest court of colonial Virginia, and the highest criminal court in the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1814-1852.

== Colonial era ==
As early as 1619, the Governor and [[Virginia Governor's Council|Council]] of the colony of Virginia performed judicial duties as the Council Court.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Justice in colonial Virginia|last=Chitwood|first=Oliver Perry|date=2001|publisher=Lawbook Exchange|isbn=1584771143|location=Union, N.J.|pages=33|oclc=43936784}}</ref> The government began to refer to this as the Quarter Court (after the council's quarterly meetings) in 1626.<ref name=":0">Chitwood. p. 35.</ref> By 1659, the councillors had trouble holding court on a quarterly schedule and reduced it to three times,<ref name=":0" /> then twice per year.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century.|last=Bruce|first=Philip Alexander|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|year=1910|volume=1|location=New York|pages=659–60}}</ref> and by 1662 legal documents called it the General Court.<ref>Bruce. '''1'''. p. 658.</ref>

=== Location ===
While Jamestown was the colonial capital, the court usually met there in various locations, including three state houses (all of which burned down),<ref>Bruce. '''1'''. pp. 653-54.</ref> the governor's house and local taverns.<ref>Chitwood. p. 37.</ref> After the capital moved to Williamsburg, the government built a state house and devoted one half of the building to the General Court's use.<ref name=":1">Chitwood. p. 38.</ref>

=== Composition ===
The General Court was supposed to have twelve to thirteen members, and normally required at least five members present to hold a trial.<ref>Chitwood. pp. 42-43.</ref> The governor acted as president of the court and The Virginia Company originally appointed councillors; after its charter ended, the king appointed councillors based on a list of recommendations from the governor.<ref name=":1" /> Officially, each new Governor of Virginia or ruler of the United Kingdom had to recommission councillors, but most General Court appointments were effectively for life.<ref name=":1" /> The governor had the power to appoint temporary councillors if there were fewer than nine.<ref name=":2">Chitwood. p. 39.</ref> The governor could also suspend councillors for just cause, but had to notify the English government and provide reasoning with sufficient proof for the suspension.<ref name=":2" /> During England's [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth era]], the [[House of Burgesses|Virginia House of Burgesses]] appointed both the governor and the councillors.<ref>Chitwood. p. 41.</ref>

=== Jurisdiction ===
The General Court had original and appellate jurisdiction for civil and criminal cases in Virginia.<ref name=":3">Chitwood. p. 45.</ref>

==== Original Jurisdiction ====
At first, it heard almost all cases in Virginia, but after the colony established county courts, the General Court only kept original jurisdiction for civil lawsuits involving a minimum amount of damages.<ref name=":3" /> The minimum required was originally ten pounds sterling, but increased to twenty pounds over the years.<ref>Chitwood. pp. 45-46.</ref> It shared original jurisdiction over chancery cases with the county courts.<ref name=":4">Chitwood. p. 48.</ref> The General Court had exclusive original jurisdiction for any criminal cases for which the punishment was loss of life or limb,<ref>Bruce. '''1'''. p. 665.</ref> and shared original jurisdiction over minor crimes with the county courts.<ref name=":4" />

==== Appellate Jurisdiction ====
The General Court heard appeals of decisions from the county courts, as well as decisions the General Court had issued under its original jurisdiction.<ref>Bruce. '''1'''. pp. 681-82.</ref> Originally, the court could hear any appeal, but in 1647 the House of Burgesses passed a law restricting its civil appellate jurisdiction to cases involving an amount at controversy of at least ten pounds sterling or 1600 pounds of tobacco.<ref>Chitwood. p. 46.</ref> Appellants had to pay a penalty if the General Court upheld the original decision; originally, the appellant had to pay double the original damages, but this was eventually reduced to 115% of the original damages.<ref>Chitwood. p. 47.</ref> The court had no restrictions, however, on hearing appeals in cases in which no monetary damages were sought.<ref>Bruce. '''1'''. p. 686.</ref>

=== Problems ===
Some attorneys who had studied and practiced law in England did not think highly of the General Court; among other things, they complained about the councillors' lack of legal training and the fact that people who were involved in writing the law (the Council was the upper house of the Virginia's legislature) also interpreted it.<ref>Bruce. '''1'''. pp. 660-61.</ref>

The colonial General Court was overworked.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Dewey|first=Frank L.|date=1979|title=New Light on the General Court of Colonial Virginia|url=http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol21/iss1/2/|journal=William & Mary Law Review|volume=21|pages=1–14}}</ref> The legislature passed a law in 1761 prohibiting lawyers from practicing before both the county courts and the General Court in an effort to reduce frivolous appeals,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rankin|first=Hugh F.|date=1962|title=The General Court of Colonial Virginia: Its Jurisdiction and Personnel|jstor=4246836|journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|volume=70|issue=2|pages=142–153}}</ref> but the resulting lack of lawyers able to practice before the General Court resulted in even more congested dockets.<ref name=":5" /> Although the court processed criminal cases fairly quickly,<ref name=":5" /> civil cases could stretch for years, and defendants could successfully delay litigation for long periods of time.<ref name=":5" />

== Post-Revolutionary era ==
The Virginia Assembly re-established the General Court in 1777.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=The statutes at large; being a collection of all the laws of Virginia, from the first session of the Legislature in the year 1619.|last=Hening|first=William Waller|publisher=[Published for the Jamestown Foundation of the Commonwealth of Virginia by the University Press of Virginia]|year=1969|isbn=0813902541|volume=9|location=[Charlottesville, VA]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/statutesatlargeb0004virg/page/401 401–19]|oclc=13068|url=https://archive.org/details/statutesatlargeb0004virg/page/401}}</ref>

=== Location ===
The new General Court held sessions in Richmond.<ref>Hening. '''10'''. p. 152.</ref>

=== Composition ===
The court originally consisted of five judges, with three judges sitting on a panel;<ref name=":6" /> the assembly later increased the court's size to twelve.<ref>Hening. '''12'''. pp. 730-63.</ref> Unlike the colonial-era court, the assembly elected judges, whom the governor then commissioned.<ref name=":6" /> General Court judges also served on the District Courts,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Faithful magistrates and republican lawyers : creators of Virginia legal culture, 1680-1810|last=Roeber|first=A. G.|date=1981|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=080781461X|location=Chapel Hill|pages=204|oclc=6555226}}</ref> which is where they spent the majority of their time.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title=The Virginia State Court System, 1776-|last=Headlee|first=Thomas Jefferson|publisher=Virginia State Library|year=1969|location=Richmond, VA|pages=5}}</ref>

=== Jurisdiction ===
The General Court lost much of its colonial-era jurisdiction.<ref name=":7" />

==== Original Jurisdiction ====
The court shared original jurisdiction over probate and cases involving public debtors.<ref name=":7" />

==== Appellate Jurisdiction ====
In 1814, the assembly made the General Court Virginia's criminal tribunal of last resort.<ref>Act of Feb. 7, 1814, ch. 18, 1813 Va. Acts 50.</ref>

=== End of the court ===
Virginia's Constitution of 1851 abolished the General Court;<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sources and documents of United States constitutions|last=Finley|first=Swindler, William|date=1973–1979|publisher=Oceana Publications|isbn=0379161753|volume=10|location=Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.|pages=86–87|oclc=515826}}</ref> it officially ceased to exist on July 1, 1852.<ref name=":8">Act of May 21, 1852, ch. 69, 1852 Va. Acts 62.</ref> The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals assumed the General Court's appellate jurisdiction.<ref name=":8" />

==References==
*[https://scholarship.richmond.edu/law-faculty-publications/1612/ William H. Bryson, The General Court of Virginia 1619-1776, in Central Courts in Early Modern Europe and the Americas, 531 (A. M. Godfrey and C. H. van Rhee ed., 2020)]. 
*[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103779056&view=1up&seq=749&skin=2021 Francis H. McGuire, The General Court of Virginia, in: Report of the Virginia State Bar Association, 8, 1895].
*[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x030201933&view=1up&seq=19&skin=2021 Judges on Virginia General Court 1789-1826]

==See also==
* [[Government of Virginia]]
* [[Virginia Governor's Council]] - about the Court in its capacity as the Governor's Council.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Legal history of Virginia]]
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