Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Warren County (Va.) Circuit Court Records, 1836-1924. Local government records collection, Warren County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a shipment of court papers from Warren County.

Historical Information

Warren County was named for Joseph Warren, the revolutionary patriot who sent Paul Revere and William Dawes on their famous rides and who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The county was formed from Frederick and Shenandoah counties in 1836.

A Docket is a brief record of proceedings in a court of justice. It usually gives the style of the suit and the date the court first dealt with it. Sometime it gives the date the suit was removed from the docket.

An execution is a court order directing a sheriff or other officer to enforce a judgment, usually by seizing and selling the judgment debtor's property. An Execution Books lists executions sued out or pending in the sheriff's office. It shows notices of process, names of all parties, amount of judgment, date of execution, return date and sheriff's return.

An issue is the act of issuing or promulgating; e.g. to issue an order or writ. An issue docket is the record of issuance, showing parties' names, actions, and remarks.

Fee Books are volumes showing the date of a duty performed by the clerk, the name of the person paying the fees, and the amount. It includes the fees charged attorneys, cash accounts, and the clerk's fees in common law and chancery cause.

Rules Books contain the records of the session of Court where complainant(s) began the process to have a suit heard in court. For the first session of Rule, the complainant(s) appeared at court and gave information of who he wanted to sue and why. The court issued a subpoena to the defendant(s) giving the date they were to appear at court to answer a Bill exhibited against them. Some suits did not make it out of the Rule Sessions because, the plaintiff did not file a Bill, he asked the court to dismiss his Bill, or he did not prosecute the Bill. If the plaintiff did not provide a security to pay for the cost of court, his suit was dismissed in Rules. When the plaintiff or defendant died while the suit was still in Rules, the Rule of Abatement caused the suit to end. If the plaintiff met all the requirements for a Bill to be heard in Court, the Bill and other suit documents were sent to the appropriate court to be heard.

Scope and Content

Warren County (Va.) Circuit Court Records, 1836-1924 contains Executions, Executions Returned, Issue Dockets, Chancery Issue Dockets, Chancery Rule Book B, Witness Attendance Book, Receiver's Books, Common Law Issues, Execution Book, Fee Books and Chancery Fee Book.

Related Material

Additional Warren County Court Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm"

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Warren County (Va.) Circuit Court

Subjects:

• Circuit courts--Virginia
• Court records--Virginia--Warren County

Geographical Names:

• Warren County (Va.)--History

Genre and Form Terms:

• Judicial records--Virginia--Warren County
• Local government records--Virginia--Warren County
• Public records--Virginia--Warren County

Adjunct Descriptive Data