In the Case of Jane Dotey vs. Manuel Essane heard and adjudged at the Court of General Sessions of the Peace held at Plymouth within and for the County of Plymouth on the first second Tuesday of December being the Eighth day of said Month in the Year of our Lord 1767, the Errors assigned by said Manual, on the Certiorari are as follow viz. 1st. It does not appear by the Record of the Judgment...
2Reasons for the Judgement: Plymouth Superior Court, May 1768 (Adams Papers)
Order’d that the aforesaid Judgment and proceedings of the Court of General Sessions of the peace be quash’d—1st. Because it doth not appear in the Record aforesaid where the Child aforesaid was born. 2. It appears by the Record aforesaid that the aforesaid Judgment was founded on the Oath of the said Jane and on that only. 3. The said Manuel is ordered to recognize in £40 with Sureties to...
3Jane Dotey’s Examination: Plymouth, 6 July 1769 (Adams Papers)
Plymouth Ss. The Information of Jane Doty now Residing in Duxborough single woman taken before me Gamaliel Bradford Esqr. one of his Majestys Justices of the Peace for the said County this Eighth Sixth Day of July 1767. Q. Are you now with Child. A. Yes. Q. Who is the father of the Child you are now Big with. A. Mannuel Essane of Marshfield servant to Rouse Bourne Between on the Seventeenth...
Plymouth Ss. At his Majesty’s court of general sessions of the peace, began and held at Plymouth within and for the county of Plym outh on the second tuesday of december being the eighth day of said month, in the eighth year of our Sovereign Lord George the third by the Grace of God of Great-Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. annoque Domini 1767. Jane Doten Dotey a...
5Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The jurisdiction of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace in cases of bastardy originated in its role as a conservator of public morals. The effect of bastardy proceedings, however, was less to punish the guilty than to provide for the support of the innocent and save the town from charge; thus they may properly be viewed as a phase of the court’s administrative powers in welfare matters....