I would appreciate any elaboration or correction on these terms

 

Caveat - a notice to a court or judicial officer to suspend a proceeding
until the opposition can be heard.  After a land warrant was obtained and a
survey was made, there was a 6 month period during which Caveats could be
filed before one could apply to the Land Office for a Patent or Grant.

 

Debt - A fixed and certain obligation to pay money or some other valuable
thing, either in the present or in the future. An obligation to deliver
particular goods or perform certain acts according to an agreement. In the
Colonial era, Debts typically arose from merchants supplying the basics of
agrarian life: seed, various tools and hardware, cloth, shoes, etc. as an
advance on next year's crops, especially tobacco.

 

O'yer - A hearing or an inspection of a document such as a deed, bond, etc.,
as when a defendant in court "prays o'yer" of a writing.

 

Petition - A written application from a person or persons to some governing
body or public official asking that some authority be exercised to grant a
relief, a favor or a privilege. A formal application made to a court in
writing that requests action on a certain matter, as in a permission to
construct a mill, a new road in a county or even the division of the county.

 

Trespass - Originated in England with the action of Trespass. Trespass was
any wrongful conduct directly causing injury or financial loss. A Trespass
gives the aggrieved party the right to bring a civil lawsuit and collect
damages as compensation for the interference and for any harm, financial or
otherwise, suffered. As used in the Colony of Virginia during the 18th
century, it was most often a suit for debt between landowners.

 

William F Milam


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