Legal Papers of John Adams, volume 1

Record<a xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" href="#LJA01d114n1" class="note" id="LJA01d114n1a">1</a>: Middlesex Court of General Sessions, Concord, September 1769 UNKNOWN

1769-09

Record: Middlesex Court of General Sessions, Concord, September 1769 UNKNOWN
Record1
Middlesex Court of General Sessions, Concord, September 1769
[seal] Middlesex Ss. Anno Regni Regis Georgii Tertii magnae Brittanicse Francae et Hibernise nono.

At a Court of General Sessions of the Peace begun and Held at Concord within and for the County of Middlesex on the Second Tuesday of September being the twelfth Day of said Month Annoque Domini 1769.

John Harrington of Marlborough in the County of Middlesex Husbandman being bound by Recognizance for his Appearance at this Time to answer to the Complaint of Anna Josslin of Marlborough aforesaid Spinster for begetting her with Child of a Bastard, (of which she was delivered in Marlborough aforesaid on the twenty fourth Day of June AD 1768) And the said John being now in Court and charged by the said Anna with being the Father of the said bastard Child born of her Body as aforesaid, denied the said Charge and Accusation; and after a full hearing of the Parties and their Evidence, it appears to the Court and they adjudge that the said Anna Josslin be admitted to her Oath, and she being Sworn, upon her Oath, in Court, says that the said John Harrington is the Father of the bastard male Child born of her Body as aforesaid.

It's thereupon Considered by the Court and they do thereupon adjudge 2 the said John Harrington to be, and he is hereby adjudged 332to be the reputed Father of the same Child and order that he stand chargeable with the Maintenance thereof with the Assistance of the said Anna Josslin the Mother; and that he pay the said Anna the Sum of forty eight Shillings for the first four Weeks next after the Birth of the Said Child towards the defreying the Charges and the Maintenance of the Same Child to that Time, and that he also pay her two Shillings per Week from thence to this Time, and also that he the said John pay to the said Anna from hence forward two Shillings per Week, weekly, towards the Maintenance of the Same Child untill the further Order of this Court. Also it's Ordered by the Court that the said John Harrington give Security, himself as Principal in the Sum of one hundred Pounds with two Sureties in the Sum of fifty Pounds each for his Performance of the above Order with Respect to the Maintenance of the said Child. And also that he give Security, himself as Principal in the Sum of fifty Pounds with two Sureties in the sum of twenty five Pounds each to save the Town of Marlborough, where the same Child was born, harmless and free from any Charge for the Maintenance of the said Child; And that he pay Fees and Costs of this Prosecution; Standing committed 'till performed.

1.

SF 147872. Subscribed: “A true Copy as of Record. Examined per Thad. Mason Cler. Pac.” (Clerk of the Peace).

2.

Italics in MS. See text at note 4 above.

Fitch’s Assignment of Errors<a xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" href="#LJA01d115n1" class="note" id="LJA01d115n1a">1</a>: Middlesex Superior Court, Cambridge, October–November 1769 Fitch, Samuel Fitch’s Assignment of Errors: Middlesex Superior Court, Cambridge, October–November 1769 Fitch, Samuel
Fitch's Assignment of Errors1
Middlesex Superior Court, Cambridge, October–November 1769

In the Case of Ann Jocelin against John Harrington heard and Adjudged at the Court of General Sessions of the Peace held at Concord within and for the County of Middlesex on the Second Tuesday of September in the Year of our Lord 1769. The Errors Assigned by the said John on the Certiorari are as follows vizt.

1. It doth not Appear by the Record of the Judgment or Sentence of said Court of General Sessions of the peace, or by any part of the Record in said Case That the said John Harrington was ever accused by the said Ann Jocelin of being the Father of the Bastard Child born of her Body in June 1768 before the said Child was born nor 'till more than Twelve Months after:

2. It doth not Appear by the Record of said Judgment or Sentence nor by any other Record of any proceedings in said Case That the 333said Ann Continued Constant in her Accusation of the said John to be the Father of the said Bastard Child, or That She was ever Examined upon Oath while She was pregnant with said Bastard Child, touching the same, nor that she was put upon the Discovery of the Truth relative thereto, in the Time of her Travail, all which by Law ought to have Appeared;2

3. It doth Appear by the Record of the said Judgment and Sentence of said Court in said Case, That The said Judgment was founded upon the Oath of the said Ann in said Court, That the said John was the Father of said Bastard Child, and upon that only;

4. The said Ann was not put upon the Discovery of the Truth relative to said Bastard Child during the Time of her Travel nor did she Charge the said John with being the Father of said Child during said Time, nor till long after.

Wherefore the said John prays That the said Order Sentence Judgment and proceedings of said Court of General Sessions of the peace, may be quashed and That he be allowed his Charges occasioned thereby and Costs.

Saml. Fitch for the said John Harrington
1.

SF 147872, presumably in Fitch's hand. The paragraphs are numbered in the margin. The date has been supplied from the fact that the notification to Ann Josselin issued on 2 Nov. 1769. Min. Bk. 88, SCJ Middlesex, Oct. 1769, N – 10. Compare No. 27, Doc. VII.

2.

The statutory requirements. See No. 28, text at note 1.