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 [log in to unmask] Visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us -----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 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