Rhode Island Trial (1638) the first trial of a punishable offence was reported by Thomas Williams Bicknell in The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (NY: The American Historical Society, 1920, Chapter XLIII, "The Judiciary," p. 935- 940):
<Judge William Coddington was the chief officer of the town, presiding at its meetings, wherein public business was transacted in an orderly fashion, laws were made, orders passed, fines and punishments determined, and freemen admitted.
In July, 1638, a prison was built, twelve feet long, ten wide, and ten high, for the detention of lawbreakers. A pair of stocks and a whipping-post were ordered the same month. Mr. Randall Holden was chosen marshal for a year.
On August 15, 1638, legal warrants were issued for the arrest of George Willmore, George Parker, John Lutner, John Arnold, Samuel Smith, Robert Stanton, Anthony Robinson, and John Vahun for engaging in a drunken riot on the I3th. The trial took place on the I5th, each of the offenders was sentenced "to pay five shillings into the Town Treasury, one to sit one hour in the stocks, and two "to sett till the evening."
This is the first trial of a punishable offence recorded in Rhode Island history. The court made the punishment of these offenders of the law quick and speedy-only two days between the drunken spree and fines and a free seat in the public stocks.
One of the offenders, who sat in the stocks one hour, was a carpenter by trade, and soon "departed the Island without leave or license," leaving unpaid bills to vex the people.> 1638WC001
Thomas Williams Bicknell continued in The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations:
<At the election of 1638-39, Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall and William Brenton were chosen Elders to assist Judge Coddington in legislative and judicial functions. We have then at the beginning of the settlement at Portsmouth, on Aquidneck, a "Bodie Politick," corporate, democratic, founded on the principles of equality and justice as laid down in the Bible and as expounded by the Great Teacher, Jesus the Christ.
The chief officer of the new State was William Coddington, to whom the freemen gave the title of Judge, and with whom, in his legislative, executive and judicial functions, were associated the Elders of the new colony, distinguished for their known and tried character and ability. The judiciary of Rhode Island of the twentieth century may take a just pride in its Aquidneck ancestry of the seventeenth century.
Later in the month, the town as a "Commonwealth" agreed to choose a constable and sergeant,
"to execute the Lawes and penalties thereof, to see that peace be kept, that there be no unlawful meetings or anything that may tend to Civill disturbance, and to inform in General of all manifest Breaches of the Law of God."
The constable had authority "to command partie or parties one or more" to assist him in the discharge of his duties. Samuel Wilbour was chosen as constable and Henry Bull as sergeant, and were duly commissioned. It was ordered that the prison be "sett neare or joyned unto the howse of Henry Bull, Sergeant."> 1638WC002
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1638WC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Rhode Island, July-August, 1638, Judge William Coddington rulings. Thomas Williams Bicknell, The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (NY: The American Historical Society, 1920, Chapter XLIII, "The Judiciary," p. 935-940.
1638WC002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Rhode Island, 1638, Judge William Coddington rulings. Thomas Williams Bicknell, The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (NY: The American Historical Society, 1920, Chapter XLIII, "The Judiciary," p. 935-940.