Home / Shonnard, Frederic, and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900. New York: The New York History Company, 1900. / Passage

History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900

Shonnard, Frederic, and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900. New York: The New York History Company, 1900. 328 words

There was also usually a socalled " Court Leet," which has been described as " a court of record having a similar jurisdiction to the old sheriff's ' Tourns ' or migratory courts held by the sheriff in the different districts or ' hundreds ' of his county, for the punishment of minor offenses and the preservation of the peace," which was provided for in order GOVERNOR LOVELACE. that the lords of manors " might administer justice to their tenants at home." In all the Westchester County manor grants, except Fordham, authority is given to the grantee to hold " one Court Leet and one Court Baron." This privilege was not always availed of; for example, we have seen that in the Manor of Scarsdale the manorial courts were never organized. It is worthy of note in this connection that among the manor lords of Westchester County were several of the early judges of the province, including John Pell (second lord of Pelhani Manor), who was the first judge of Westchester County; Caleb Heathcote, of Scarsdale Manor, who served as county judge for twenty-seven years, and was also an admiralty judge; Lewis Morris, of Morrisania, one of the most famous of the royal chief justices; and the second Fred-

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erick Philipse, who was a puisne judge of the Supreme Court. To this list should be added the name of the celebrated chief justice and royal governor, James de Lancey, who married the eldest daughter of Caleb Heathcote. In addition to their civil functions, the proprietors of four of the manors (Cortlandt, Philipsebnrgh, Pelham, and Morrisania) enjoyed the right of advowson and church patronage, under which they had the power to exercise controlling influence in church matters within their domains. The prevailing sectarian tendencies of different localities in Westchester County during the colonial era and for many years subsequently were owing mainly to the particular religious preferences and activities of the respective manor lords of those localities.