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Official Records - County Records

The county courts of colonial Virginia handled most of the administrative, legislative, and judicial functions of local government. Each month the justices, comprising the most prominent men of the county, met to transact the county's business. They set the county levy, or tax, licensed tavern-keepers and mill operators, and tried misdemeanor criminal offenses by the white inhabitants. Felony cases were generally tried before the General Court in Williamsburg. For felonies committed by slaves, however, the local justices could convene as special courts of Oyer and Terminer to try them.