Massachusetts. Court of Assistants

Assistants, also designated judicially in their own towns as magistrate, with powers of justice of the peace, were chosen annually by the General Court of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, the colony chartered by the English Crown in 1629. They met separately from the General Court as a whole (i.e., including its freemen--or, from 1634, their elected deputies), constituting with the governor and deputy governor a Court of Assistants. In 1634 this body's legislative powers were ceded to the General Court as a whole (Mass Recs 1: 117). From 1636 certain members were appointed as members for life of a standing council to the governor (see: Massachusetts. Council. Agency history record). By 1644, while assistants continued to meet separately--now concurrently with a House of Deputies, thus in effect being the upper house of the General Court--the designation of Court of Assistants was reserved for the assistants acting solely in their judicial capacity, this body continuing until the institution of the Dominion of New England in 1686 and then again with the 1689 revival of colonial government until institution of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in 1692.

Assistants, also designated judicially in their own towns as magistrate, with powers of justice of the peace, were chosen annually by the General Court of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, the colony chartered by the English Crown in 1629. They met separately from the General Court as a whole (i.e., including its freemen--or, from 1634, their elected deputies), constituting with the governor and deputy governor a Court of Assistants. In 1634 this body's legislative powers were ceded to the General Court as a whole (Mass Recs 1: 117). From 1636 certain members were appointed as members for life of a standing council to the governor (see: Massachusetts. Council. Agency history record)

By 1644, while assistants continued to meet separately--now concurrently with a House of Deputies, thus in effect being the upper house of the General Court--the designation of Court of Assistants was reserved for the assistants acting solely in their judicial capacity, this body continuing until the institution of the Dominion of New England in 1686 and then again with the 1689 revival of colonial government until institution of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in 1692.

Judicial powers of the court were narrowed in 1636 with the institution of inferior quarter courts in four towns, each composed of assistants (as magistrates) and associates designated by the General Court (Mass Recs 1: 169); these became county courts in 1643. With the advent of such quarter courts, the Court of Assistants limited its purview to civil cases involving ten pounds or more (twenty, after the 1639 institution of a Boston quarter court), divorce (Colonial Laws, 1639), and criminal cases involving life, member, or banishment. The court also heard appeals from lower courts, with which it shared some concurrent jurisdiction until 1649, when such was limited to appeals (Mass Recs 2: 279; 3: 167, 180).

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agency described above can be found by searching the following access point for the time period stated: 1629-1686, 1689-1692--Massachusetts. Court of Assistants.