• Home
  • About the Project

Bail at the Founding

Founding-era Bail Practice

  • Bail Stories
  • Jail Books & Bail Records
  • Read the Article
  • Bail Stories
  • Jail Books & Bail Records
  • Read the Article
  • Home
  • About the Project
Bail Records, Featured, Pennsylvania

Prisoners for Trial Docket, Walnut St. Jail, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1790-1802

Docket of untried prisoners held at the Walnut Street Jail, with a ledger of prisoners' names, commitment date, ground for commitment, date of discharge (if any), and responsible magistrate.

read more
March 11, 2022
Bail Records, Featured

United States v. Ezekiel Teel (E.D. Pa., 1791): Recognizances

Recognizances from a federal criminal prosecution for assault on the high seas.

read more
February 11, 2022
Bail Records, Featured, South Carolina

Sample Peace Bonds from Camden District, South Carolina, 1786-1799

Bonds to keep the peace and remain of good behavior, occasionally with a condition to appear at court, from Camden, South Carolina.

read more
April 30, 2024
  • Vagrancy Docket, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1790-1815

    Prisoners committed to the Walnut Street jail/prison for vagrancy, including runaway slaves, servants, and apprentices.

    read more
  • Record Book of Ebenezer Ferguson, Justice of the Peace, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1799-1800

    A "day book" recording the daily decisions of Ebenezer Ferguson, Justice of the Peace, relating to bail and pretrial detention, peace bonds, and adjudication of petty offenses.

    read more
  • Court of Oyer & Terminer Docket, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1794-1807

    Records of Courts of Oyer & Terminer, each constituted by one Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice and several judges from the Court of Quarter Sessions, which heard capital and other serious cases.

    read more
  • Mayor’s Court Records, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1789-1810

    Records of the Mayor's Court, which had jurisdiction to hear everyday criminal and civil cases arising in the city of Philadelphia.

    read more
  • Court of Quarter Sessions Records, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1799-1800

    Records of the Court of Quarter Sessions, which had jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases arising in Philadelphia County.

    read more
  • Prison Society Minutes, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1785-1832

    Meeting minutes and committee reports for the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Misery of Public Prisons, later known more simply as the Prison Society. The Society was a private charitable organization founded in…

    read more
  • United States v. Ezekiel Teel (E.D. Pa., 1791): Recognizances

    Recognizances from a federal criminal prosecution for assault on the high seas.

    read more
12
Ashe Child Theme by Royal Flush.