University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XI

"THE COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY"

Naturally the riotous conduct of the students
on the evening of the first of October, 1825, made
discipline an important subject of consideration
by the Visitors at their session which continued
through the next week. The following minute
appears in the records of the sitting of Thursday:

"Resolved, That Mr. Johnson, Mr. Cabell and
Mr. Loyall be appointed a committee whose duty
it shall be to consider and enquire what system
may be digested for the better government of the
University; that they be especially charged with
the duty of considering how far it may be practicable
and prudent to connect with the University
a court having cognizance over misdemeanors
committed within the precincts of the University,
and over those committed by members of the University,
within the County of Albemarle; and that
they report thereupon to the next meeting of the
Visitors."

In this resolution the venerable rector seems to
be recurring to a system of government which he
had, in another form, proposed in the bill authorizing
the establishment of the Central College.
One section of that bill conferred upon the proctor
the powers of a civil magistrate, and to that

the legislature refused to consent.[1] Mr. Jefferson
defended the proposition at that time, and the
above resolution is practically a renewal of it.

The board fixed upon the second Monday in
December as the time for receiving the report of
the committee, but no meeting was held until
April, and it was not until October, 1826—some
months after the death of the Father of the University—that
the minutes show any evidence that
a report was ever presented. Then under date of
the 6th appears the following elaboration:

"As soon as the sanction of the legislature can
be obtained there shall be established in the University,
a Court of Record, to be called `The
Court of the University,' and to be organized as
followeth:

"The professor of law shall be ex officio, sole
Judge of the Court, and shall receive, as compensation
for his judicial services, a salary not exceeding
five hundred dollars, to be regulated by
the Visitors and paid in like manner with his salary
as professor of law.

"This court shall have concurrent jurisdiction
with the county court of Albemarle, over all offenses
against the laws of the land, except felonies, committed
by any, within the precincts of the University:
and over all such offences, committed by
students, within the county of Albemarle. It shall
moreover have jurisdiction over all such offenses
committed by students against the laws of the
University as shall from time to time be made cognizable
thereon, by the Visitors.

"Proceedings in this court for the punishment
of offences against the laws of the land, shall be,

in all respects, according to the course of the common
law courts in this Commonwealth,—and proceedings
for the punishment of offences against
the laws of the University shall be according to
the course prescribed by those laws.

"The judge of the court shall be a conservator
of the peace, within the county of Albemarle; and,
within that limit, shall have the same power
as a justice of the peace for the county to arrest
any one charged with an offence, to issue warrants
for that purpose, to take recognisances of the
peace, recognisances of good behaviour, and recognisances
for appearance, either in his own court,
or any other court where the offence may be cognisable.

"The terms of the court shall be monthly and
quarterly, to be held on the — Monday of each
month, except April, August and September, and
continue from day to day, and from time to time,
as long as the business shall require.

"The quarterly terms shall be in November,
March, May and July; — and shall have
jurisdiction of all causes cognisable in the court.

"The monthly terms shall be in October, December,
January, February, and June; and shall
have concurrent jurisdiction with the quarterly
terms of such causes only as are not tried by jury.

"At every quarterly term a grand jury from the
body of Albemarle County shall be summoned and
impannelled, and solemnly charged on oath to
present all offenses cognisable in the court. Every
person qualified as a grand juror for the county
court of Albemarle, and, moreover, all students of
the University above the age of nineteen years,
and all hotel-keepers of the University, shall be

competent grand jurors in the court of the University,
and a due proportion of such students,
under the direction of the judge, shall be impannelled
on every grand jury.

"Petit jurors for the court of the University
shall be qualified in like manner as petit jurors for
the county court of Albemarle, except that no
student shall be of the petit jury.

"The proctor of the University shall be the sergeant
of the court, and he, with such deputies as
the judge may approve, shall summon all its juries,
execute all its processes, original, mesne, and final;
and perform all the duties in relation to the court
and to the judge thereof in vacation that are performed
by the sheriff of the county, in relation to
the county court, and the justices thereof in vacation.

"The sergeant and his deputies shall be conservators
of the peace within the county of Albemarle,
and may command a posse comitatis in like
manner as the sheriff to enable them to execute
their lawful authority. He shall have the same
fees of office as are allowed a sheriff for similar
services.

"The court shall have the same power to issue
process beyond its jurisdiction, and the same
power to compel obedience to its lawful process
and lawful orders, with that possessed by a county
court in similar cases.

"Until some other place of confinement be provided
by law the jail of Albemarle county shall be
used as the jail of the court of the University, and
the keeper thereof shall receive and retain in safe
custody all persons lawfully committed thereto by
the said court or its officers, or by the judge thereof

in vacation, in the same manner as if they had
been committed by the authority of the county
court of Albemarle.

"The court shall appoint its own clerk, who shall
hold his office during the pleasure of the court,
shall give bond and security for the performance
of its duties in such penalty as the Visitors shall
prescribe, shall receive fees of office such as are
allowed the clerk of the county court for similar
services, and receive such farther compensation
for the performance of his duties as shall be allowed
him by the Visitors from the funds of the
University.

"All counsel and attorneys licensed to practice
in the courts of this Commonwealth may practice
in the court of the University on taking the
proper oaths of office, and the court shall appoint
from among them one who shall prosecute all
pleas of the Commonwealth in that court, and
shall receive the same fees and compensation for
his services as are allowed to an attorney for the
Commonwealth in the superior court of law, to be
paid in the same manner."

The legislature again withheld its consent.
Probably that body reasoned that courts were already
provided to deal with law-breakers, and that
students accused of misdemeanors, the grade of
offense over which the proposed University court
was given jurisdiction, could and should be subjected
to the usual process and punished by the
penalties provided for other culprits. Mr. Jefferson
had desired a University tribunal out of tenderness
for the youth whose indiscretions would
put them in the clutches of a magistrate, while the
law-makers in Richmond probably concerned

themselves with seeing that no favored class of offenders
was produced.

Again in 1832 the proposition was brought forward.
At their annual meeting the Visitors constituted
themselves "a committee of the whole to
take into consideration the propriety of applying
to the legislature for the establishment of a court
of record in the University." Government of
students was yet an unattained desideratum, and
the Visitors seemed to have believed still that
order must come out of a system of legal restraints
and punishments—a belief probably strengthened
by the fact that the best men among the professors
for the office of chairman had met with failure.
The untried ones, at that time, were Bonnycastle.
Blaettermann, Harrison, Davis and Emmet. Emmet's
work and health combined to put him aside,
even if otherwise available. Blaettermann seems
never to have been regarded as suitable. Harrison
was young. Bonnycastle stern and unconciliating,
and Davis but a recent addition to the
faculty. Tucker was chairman then and probably
regarded as by far the best man for the place. In
this baffling condition of things the Visitors decided
by the resolution already produced to turn
again to the legislature. Nothing came of it, and
the University drifted into disorders that moved
to a tragic climax.

When the tumults of April, 1845, compelled
the Visitors to meet in haste, the question of discipline
was once more a principal subject of discussion,
and again there seemed to be no way out of
the trouble except through a University court.
The board passed this resolution, "That, with a
view to improve the government and discipline of

the University, Professor Henry St. George
Tucker be requested to prepare and lay before the
Visitors at their annual meeting or the 4th of
July next his views of the best plan and organization
of a special court of record to be established
at or near the University with authority to take
cognisance of offences affecting the peace, order and
general prosperity of the institution."

No doubt Judge Tucker complied with the request
but there is nothing in the minutes of the
Visitors or in those of the faculty to show what
was really done with the problem. Perhaps it was
solved when the Court of Justices sat at the University,
as it did on the very day the resolution reproduced
above was written, and Sheriff Ben Ficklin
placed armed men in charge of the precincts.
This indicated that the existing courts were then
available, even to the extent of holding their sessions
within the college precincts.