East Jersey terms
A glossary of East Jersey terms in the late 17th century, mainly relating to legal processes and institutions.
Several legal terms in use in East Jersey are defined in the Scottish Legal Terms glossary.
For a full list of ‘Legal, Obscure and Archaic Terms found in Ancient Land Records’ please see ‘Using the Records of the East and West Jersey Proprietors’ by Joseph R. Klett, New Jersey State Archives (2014).
If you come across other unfamiliar terms, please get in touch for an explanation.
East Jersey terms
| Anglican | A member of the Church of England, in England or Colonial America. The Scottish equivalent is Episcopalian. In East Jersey, Anglicans were a minority until the early 18th century, with stronger presence after the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel began its work (1701). |
| attorney | A person authorised to act on another’s behalf in legal or business matters. Equivalent to ‘factor’ in Scots usage. |
| bondsman | One who guarantees performance of another’s obligation, financial or other. Similar to the Scots term ‘cautioner’. |
| Chief Rent | Another term for quit rent (see below) |
| Commission | A certificate issued by the governor empowering the recipient to perform certain duties, issued under the authority of the Proprietors or governor, often to judicial or military officers. |
| Congregationalism | Part of the Calvinist Protestant tradition, common in New England, emphasising independent congregational governance without a role for a higher institutional authority such as bishops or presbyteries. |
| Court of Chancery | Adjudicated on petitions for relief that common law could not adequately address (such as trusts, inheritance disputes, and complex property cases). |
| Court of Common Pleas | The court in each county (Middlesex, Monmouth, Essex and Bergen) dealing with everyday civil cases involving debt, contracts, trespass and property disputes. |
| Court of Common Right | The highest court in East Jersey, adjudicating on appeals, major civil and criminal cases and questions of land title. |
| Deed/ conveyance | A legal document transferring title to land or property, signed by the grantor and recorded in provincial records. |
| dividend | A periodic allocation of additional land to Proprietors and substantial fractioners in proportion to their shares, awarded by the Board of Proprietors |
| fractioner | The holder of a right to part of a Propriety of East Jersey. A quarter share was required for voting rights |
| headland | Acreage granted per head (often 30 acres) to indentured servants at the end of their contract and to some free emigrants in respect of servants whose passage they paid. |
| headright | The right to headland |
| Lenni-Lenape, or Lenape | Native Americans living in much of New York, New Jersey and the Delaware – translated as the ‘The Original People’. Sometimes referred to as ‘Delaware Indians’. |
| Muster Master | Military officer responsible for recruiting, training and equipping militiamen. |
| patent | A formal land grant, issued by the Crown, governor, or Board of Proprietors, conveying rights of ownership or privileges. |
| probate | Court-supervised settlement of a deceased person’s estate. Equivalent to Scottish ‘confirmation’. |
| Proprietor | One of the 24 original proprietors of East Jersey, or a later purchaser of their share. Collectively they formed the Board of Proprietors. Where shares were subdivided, a quarter gave voting rights. |
| Propriety/ share | A right to a whole or fraction of a Proprietorship of East Jersey. |
| Quarter Session | The quarterly court in each county (Middlesex, Monmouth, Essex and Bergen) dealing with everyday criminal cases. |
| quitrent | Annual rent paid to the Crown or Proprietors, derived from feudal service obligations. This was similar to feu duties in Scotland based on the feudal notion that as the monarch ultimately owns the land and protects his or her subjects, occupiers should provide service in return and later payments in lieu. |
| satisfaction piece | A legal acknowledgment that a mortgage or judgment has been satisfied and should be discharged from the record. |
| survey | Survey undertaken following the issue of a warrant, establishing the boundaries of the tracts laid out. Conducted by the Surveyor-General or deputy, based on a warrant, and essential for recording deeds |
| yeoman | A freeholder of modest estate, ranked socially below gentlemen but above tenants or servants. |
| vendue | A public auction, typically of land or goods. (The Scots equivalent is ‘roup’.) |
| vestryman | A lay member of the vestry, the governing body of a parish in the Church of England, responsible for managing the parish’s secular affairs, including poor relief, repair of church buildings, and the raising of local taxes (loosely equivalent to elders in the Church of Scotland). |
| wampum | Small cylindrical beads made by Native Americans, typically from quahog clamshells, strung together and worn as decoration, used ceremonially, or in trading |
| warrant | An official order authorising the Surveyor-General to lay out land as directed by a grant or patent. |