The Acts of Assembly, Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia (1752)
| Acts of Assembly | ||
 at the College of William & Mary. |
||
| Author | Printed by William Hunter | |
| Published | Williamsburg: William Hunter | |
| Date | 1752 | |
| Language | English | |
There were numerous efforts to compile the laws of Virginia, starting in 1733 with A Collection of All the Acts of Assembly, Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia with the Titles of Such as are Expir'd, or Repeal'd, which included all laws passed by the General Assembly between 1661 and 1732.[1] In 1745, a nine-person joint committee of the Council and the House of Burgesses was appointed to make another compilation.[2] Members of the committee include John Robinson, John Blair, William Nelson, Richard Randolph, William Beverley, Beverley Whiting, and Benjamin Waller, among others.[3] The committee finished their work in 1748, and nearly a year later the General Assembly ordered William Hunter, the official printer to the Virginia colony, to print the compilation with a deadline of March 1753.[4] This was one of Hunter’s first tasks as official printer, and through his half-brother’s merchant collections, he was able to publish the compilation six months ahead of time, in March 1752.[5] The General Assembly ordered a thousand copies to be printed with the Arms of Virginia stamped on each book, for use by the assembly and the county courts.[6]
The preamble to the 1752 Acts of Assembly states:
“Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Burgesses of this Grand Assembly, That all the following Laws, continued or made by this Assembly, shall be hereafter reputed the Laws of this Country, by which all Courts of Judicature are to proceed in giving of Sentence, and to which all Persons are strictly required to yield all due Obedience; and that all other Acts, not in this Collection mentioned, be, to all Intents and Purposes, utterly abrogated and repealed; unless Suits be commenced for any Thing done in the Time when a Law, now repealed, was in Force; in which Case, the producing that Law shall excuse any person for doing any Thing according to the Tenor thereof.”[7]
The compilation repeals and expunges unnecessary acts, and for all acts left in force contains a date for when they were established so the administration of justice is not prejudiced.[8] It also contains a list of subscribers, including George Wythe (listed as “Mr. George Wythe, Attorney, Williamsburg”). An updated version of the Acts was published again in 1769 by printer William Rind, with financial support from Thomas Jefferson.[9] According to William Waller Hening, the 1769 Acts of Assembly were passed “with very little variation… though differently arranged” from the 1752 version.[10]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
See also
- A Collection of All the Acts of Assembly, Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia with the Titles of Such as are Expir'd, or Repeal'd (1733).
- The Acts of Assembly, Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia (1769).
- Wythe's Library
References
- ↑ Charles A. Grymes, “Code of Virginia,” Virginia Places, accessed February 9th, 2026, http://virginiaplaces.org/government/codeofvirginia.html.
- ↑ William E. Ross, “History of Virginia Codification,” The Virginia Law Register 11, no. 2 (1905), 89. [1]
- ↑ Ross, "History of Virginia Codification," 89.
- ↑ David Rawson, "William Hunter (ca. 1730–1761)" in Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities, December 7th, 2020, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/hunter-william-d-1761/.
- ↑ Rawson, "William Hunter."
- ↑ Brent Tarter, “The Library of the Council of Colonial Virginia,” in “Esteemed Bookes of Lawe” and the Legal Culture of Early Virginia, edited by Brent Tarter and Warren M. Billings, (University of Virginia Press: 2017), 44.[2]
- ↑ General Assembly of Virginia. The acts of Assembly, now in force, in the colony of Virginia. With the titles of such as are expired, or repealed; notes in the margin, shewing how, and at what time they were repealed: and an exact table to the whole. Publish'd pursuant to an order of the General Assembly, Williamsburg, United States: Printed by William Hunter, MDCCLII. [1752]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online (accessed February 9, 2026). [3]
- ↑ General Assembly of Virginia, The acts of Assembly, now in force.
- ↑ Grymes, "Code of Virginia."
- ↑ Ross, "History of Virginia Codification," 89.