I am now recommending to all my friends that they be very careful about
assuming that a person has attained a certain age just because a document
indicates that on such-and-such a date that person did such-and-such a thing
that we presume only persons of a certain age could or did do.

Everybody ought to read carefully the relevant chapters of Holly Brewer's
1994 UCLA doctoral dissertation, "Constructing Consent: How Children's
Status in Political Theory Shaped Public Policy in Virginia, Pennsylvania,
and Massachusetts Before and After the American Reovlution." That is where I
learned that well into the 18th century, under the Common Law, the legal
minimum age for jury service in some instances was FOURTEEN.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 12 April, 2001 9:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Jury Qualification.


     In researching court records for the 1750-1775 timeframe in the
Northern
Neck of VA., I find repeated mention of the Sheriff being ordered to summon
'qualified' persons for jury duty.

     In reviewing jury lists, the persons served over and over again, but
they represent only a small fraction of the total male population of any
given county at any given time.

     What was the qualification for serving on a jury in this period?

     Bill Balderson

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