Excerpt from Records of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace for the County of Worcester, Massachusetts: From 1731 to 1737 IN presenting the Records Of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace for the County of Worcester, for the first six years of its existence; a brief review of the origin and growth of the judicial system in Massachusetts will not be Out of place. Under the Charter of the Colony, the power of em acting and enforcing laws for the government of its inhabitants was assumed by the Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistants, and the General Court which comprised all the freemen. The General Court met four times a year for the consideration of matters relating to the general government or individual welfare Of the community. A monthly court was also held by the Governor, or in his absence, the Deputy Governor, and at least Seven Assistants, for the purpose of transacting minor Civil or criminal business that required immediate attention. This was termed the Court of Assistants. The Assistants numbered eighteen, and were ex oficz'o Justices of the Peace. They discharged the funetions Of a Council to the Governor. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.