OF THE 8800 86 JUDICIAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, FROM 1630 TO THE REVOLUTION IN 1775. BY EMORY WASHBURN. "Copy fair what time hath blurred, BOSTON: CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 1840. HARVARD MAR 11 1957 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, BY EMORY WASHBURN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. SPOONER & HOWLAND, Printers, Worcester. TO THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN MASSACHUSETTS, This work, designed, among other things, to illustrate the dependence of a free People, for an impartial administration of justice and the security of personal rights, upon the labors of an honorable, enlightened and independent BAR-is respectfully inscribed by their humble associate, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The design of the following work, may be very briefly explained. Neither the hope of fame nor expectation of profit entered into the considerations which have induced to its preparation or publication. When entering upon the study of the profession, with the pursuit of which my success in life was to be identified, a curiosity was awakened to learn something of its history in our own Commonwealth. But to inquiries upon the subject, I found little that was satisfactory. The ordinary sources of historical information furnished little from which the systems of judicature or the forms and changes of judicial process in Massachusetts, could be learned; and while the actors in the events of its political, ecclesiastical and military history had been remembered, comparatively most of those who had taken part in the administration of justice had been forgotten. So obscure was this department of our history found to be, that nothing but an elaborate research seemed adequate to a satisfactory development of its details. With a view of discovering these, and without the remotest idea of preparing a work for publication, I entered upon the investigation of the early judicial history of Massachusetts, and of |