It is impossible to compile an accurate list of crimes committed and punishments given during the provincial period because of incomplete records. There are instances where the record contains no more than the entry, "The King" v. the name of the defendant. In quite a number of cases it is not recorded whether the indictment was returned as a true bill or marked ignoramus. Some entries contain the name of the defendant, the fact that the indictment was returned a true bill, but make no mention of the disposition of the case. Many defendants were released on recognizance to appear at a later session, but a number of those released do not appear again in the records.
In spite of the incompleteness of the records, quite a variety of crimes are recorded in the five dockets covering the period. Assault and battery, and larceny appear more frequently than any other crimes, the former over two hundred times and the latter between one hundred and fifty and two hundred times. The incidence of crimes appearing most frequently is in the following order: assault and battery, larceny, keeping houses and taverns without license, crimes of immorality, riot, and trespass. Other crimes appearing one or more times include forgery, neglecting the highway, carrying liquor to the Indians, deceit, neglect of duty, threatening, cheat [sic], burglary, forcible entry, perjury, petty treason, nuisance, keeping a disorderly house, adultery, misdemeanor, breaking the Sabbath, and refusing to take the oath of a juryman.
Frontier conditions must have created an atmosphere conducive to making threats and beating individuals, for assault and battery appear so frequently. Even justices were called into court for the offense. At the July session of 1769, Justice James Elliot had a true bill of indictment for assault and battery returned against him. He pleaded not guilty and was released on recognizance of fifty pounds to appear at the next session. He failed to appear at the October session and his recognizance was forfeited.1 Justice William Thompson had a true bill of indictment for assault and battery returned against him at the July session of 1774. The disposition of the case is not indicated.2 And at the April session of 1775, Justice William Elliot was fined six pence plus costs for the same offence.3
A defendant found guilty of assault and battery had to pay a fine, costs, and stand committed until judgment of the court was met. The largest fine given was ten pounds and the smallest six pence. The usual fines imposed were two shillings and six pence or six pence itself, both appearing about the same number of times.
Larceny also occurred very frequently but was punished much more severely than assault and battery. A person found guilty of larceny had to make restitution of the goods stolen or give a sum of money equal to the value of the goods stolen, pay a like sum to the governor, pay the costs of prosecution, receive a public whipping, and be committed until the judgment of the court was met. When lashes were a part of the punishment the court directed that they be given "on the bare back at the public whipping post well laid on." The number oflashes was at the discretion of the justices within the limits set by law. Twentyone was the usual number given, but there are instances of five, seven, ten, twelve, fifteen, twenty, twenty-one, thirty, and thirty-nine lashes ordered by the court. There is record of over one hundred lashings administered during the provincial period.
Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2000). xxiii, 862, illustrated, maps, index. Hardcover $40.00 (ISBN 0-375-40642- 5); Paperback (New York: Vintage Books, 2001) $20.00 (ISBN 0-375- 70636-4)