1Bill for the Establishment of Courts of Assize, 2 December 1784 (Madison Papers)
JM was chairman of the House committee for Courts of Justice, and carried a burden of work in the October 1784 session of the legislature that ordinarily would have been assigned a delegate who practiced law. However, JM’s lack of formal legal training did not deter his colleagues from giving him a lawyer’s work. JM’s concern for this bill creating a circuit court system was not focused on its...