4237. JUSTICE, Pre-Revolutionary.—
Before the Revolution, a judgment could not
be obtained under eight years in the Supreme
Court[in Virginia] where the suit was in
the department of the common law, which
department embraces about nine-tenths of the
subject of legal contestation. In that of the
Chancery, from twelve to twenty years were
requisite. This did not proceed from any vice
in the laws, but from the indolence of the
judges appointed by the King; and these
judges holding their office during his will
only, he could have reformed the evil at
any time. This reformation was among the
first works of the Legislature after our Independence.
A judgment can now be obtained
in the Supreme Court in one year at
the common law, and in about three years in
the Chancery. [270]
—
Report to Congress. Washington ed. ix, 240.
Ford ed., iv, 126.
(P.
1785)
