My understanding (admittedly neither deep nor wide) is that under common law, descent was disrupted through attainder (or an attaint), essentially an additional penalty for some nefarious felony. A crime deemed sufficiently serious would result in what the common law deemed a "corruption of blood" meaning no property could descend to the heirs of the convicted person but was forfeited to the Crown. A conviction for treason brought an automatic attainder. I do not know if an "ordinary" murder did the same, but based on your evidence, it seems certainly possible that the laws under which VA was operating allowed for attainder in those circumstances.

With apologies to anyone out there who actually knows common law,

Bland Whitley
Jefferson Papers

________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Craig Kilby [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 5:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] Estates of Convicted Murders, 17th Century

Here’s another weird question. If a man was convicted of murder in 1666 and owned land, would his heirs be deprived of ownership and the land escheat to the colony?

The reason I ask this one is the case of Edward Boswell, who owned land on Sunderland’s Creek in now-Middlesex County. In September 1666, he was arrested for murdering one Thomas Thompson and sent to James City for trial. He was apparently found guilty and executed, for by November 1666 he was dead (Lancaster County Order Book 1, p. 11-12).

In two patents in 1667 and 1669, his 550 acres was granted to Robert Smith, Esq. In the 1669 patent, the land is described as formerly granted to Edward Boswell, deceased “and lately escheated to His Majesty as by inquisition in the Secretary’s Office under the seal of Henry Corbin” held 5 May 1667 (PB 6, p. 215).

If Edward Boswell had died with no heirs, regardless of the circumstances of his death, the land would escheat. But what if he had heirs? Would the land be forfeited as a consequence of his murder conviction, and his heirs be disowned from the land? I don’t know if Edward Boswell had any children, and his wife died about the same time he dead (She was also dead by November 1666).


Craig Kilby
Kilby Research Services
www.craigkilby.com







______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html