126 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1681. 



limited to the west side of the Delaware. The earliest notice of 

 a Court at Upland, is on the 18th of August, 1672. Evidence 

 of the existence of Records of an earlier date than those which 

 have come down to us, is found in these Records themselves. 

 These commence on the 14th of November, 1676, and end at 

 the time just mentioned. When a Court was first established at 

 Upland cannot now be ascertained. It was, in all probability, 

 as early as the establishment of English authority on the river, 

 and may have been earlier. If but one Court was at first 

 established by the English, its probable location was at New 

 Castle. Upon the establishment of two, the natural location of one 

 of them would be Upland. At the time our Record commences, it 

 was one of three Courts on the river — " one at New Castle, one 

 above at Uplands, another below at the Whorekill;" the latter 

 evidently being of recent establishment. The Court established 

 at New Castle was the most important, being held monthly ; 'the 

 others were to be held quarterly, "or oftener if ocasion ;" but 

 that of Upland was really held less frequently. 



These Courts possessed both criminal and civil jurisdiction. 

 In criminal matters their powers were about equal to those of 

 our Courts of Quarter Sessions, while in civil cases not involving 

 more than £20, the judgment of each Court was final. In cases 

 involving a larger amount, an appeal could be taken to the Court 

 of Assizes of New York, and so of crimes of the higher grades. 

 Parties could demand a trial by jury, but in the Upland Court 

 this privilege was only claimed in three or four instances during 

 the nearly five years that its Records have been preserved, and 

 in one of these instances the verdict of the jury was wholly dis- 

 regarded by the Court. By the " Duke's Lawes," no jury could 

 " exceed the number seaven nor be under six, unless in special 

 causes upon life and death, the Justices shall think fitt to appoint 

 twelve." This will account for only seven men being empan- 

 neled in one of the cases where the jurors' names are given in 

 the Record. Except in cases of life and death, the major part 

 of the jury, when agreed, could give in a verdict, "the minor 

 being concluded by the major without any allowance of any pro- 

 test by any of them to the contrary."^ 



In Equity matters the Court of Upland exercised jurisdiction. 

 It also made local regulations, which in these days would have 

 required an Act of the Legislature. The Justices, either as a 

 Court or a Board, performed all the duties that are now per- 

 formed by County Commissioners, Directors of the Poor, and 

 Auditors. The Court granted applications for taking up land, 

 received returns of surveys, and had acknowledgments of trans- 

 fers of real estate between parties made before it. It regulated 



1 BukeK Ia,cs, N. Y. Hist. Col. i. 358. 



