The implication of this is that the English legal tradition of the "open
range" applied early on in Virginia. That is, it was the responsibility of
farmland and pasture owners to fence out cattle and hogs, which were
permitted to feed on the open range.
This tradition was changed by passage of fence law legislation by the
Conservative Party government in the early 1870s ( I can't put my hands on
Jack Maddex's excellent Virginia Conservatives right now so I cannot be more
precise.)
I am wondering whether there are articles or books on this subject--land
law, cattle law, fence law--for colonial and antebellum Virginia. I would
appreciate any references.
Harold S. Forsythe
Golieb Fellow
New York University, School of Law
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rowe, Linda" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 2:20 PM
Subject: Re: question
It's not the same period, but in 1742 the Gen. Assembly passed
legislation empowering justices in Elizabeth City County to erect one or
more pounds or "pounds overt" for runaway horses, cattle, sheep, goats,
and hogs and to set the fees for a keeper. The impetus for that
particular law seems to have been that the inhabitants were deprived of
the benefit of pasturage due to "ill designing people, who pull down
their fences, lay open their pastures, and corn-fields, and turn in
[out?] their horses and cattle, in the night . . ."
See Hening's Statues, vol. 5, pp. 186-7, 266.
Linda H. Rowe
Historical Research
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
757-220-7443
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric Johnson
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 2:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: question
I agree--the livestock angle didn't even occur to me, but it makes a lot
of
sense!
--Eric
----- Original Message -----
From: "Debra Jackson/Harold Forsythe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 1:41 PM
Subject: Re: question
>I thought goal (jail) was the likely answer but this idea of siezed
> livestock makes perfect sense, especially since when the police take
> possession of a car these days, it is "impounded."
>
> Harold S. Forsythe
> Golieb Fellow
> New York University, School of Law
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 1:17 PM
> Subject: Re: question
>
>
>> from _http://www.brainydictionary.com/words/po/pound205513.html_
>> (http://www.brainydictionary.com/words/po/pound205513.html)
>> and _http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=pound_
>> (http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=pound)
>>
>> pound: An inclosure, maintained by public authority, in which
cattle or
>> other animals are confined when taken in trespassing, or when going
at
>> large in
>> violation of law; a pinfold.
>>
>> For what it's worth, a quick search doesn't show any usage of
"pound" as
>> a
>> jail for humans, although one can see how it might be. The use of
>> "head"
>> in
>> the document in question would suggest it was for loose livestock.
The
>> use of
>> "key" raises the possibility of it being human, but perhaps it was
>> simply
>> an
>> open enclosure with a lock
>>
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