Aubrey Keyser worked for several years when he was

Aubrey Keyser worked for several years when he was young as a deputy to his father, Hubert Keyser, who was county sheriff for thirty years or so. His father’s father, E.T. Keyser, was a justice of the peace here for the Hampton District in the 1890’s.

Justices of the peace under the old system used throughout Virginia had the ability to try misdemeanors, on a street corner in Sperryville or a rock in Woodville, dispensing justice in a prompt and personal manner and assigning felony cases to the grand jury.

When witnesses were needed, the justice could issue a summons. Often the offense was witnessed by the officer of the law who brought the offender to justice, so the trial could be held immediately, the offender fined, and everyone on their way home within a few minutes.

The system was practical, relied heavily on common sense and was well-suited to rural areas such as Rappahannock where one citizen was appointed as a justice for each district in the county. “They had no real training,” remembers Keyser, “no training of any kind. They were reliable, respected men of the community.”

The system of reimbursement left the w'hole justice system open to corruption, however, Keyser said. “Instead of being paid a salary for their services, justices were reimbursed $3 for each case. They were anxious to get cases and the fee was paid by the man who was sentenced.”

“So an unscrupulous justice would be more interested in his fee than in making the right decision,” Keyser continued, This wasn’t true about most of them, but there was one, a justice in the Hampton District when I was a deputy. He asked me which of the two men involved would be able to pay the costs, indicating that he would be the one sentenced.”

“There was one - the best in the county - he was in the Sperryville area. That was Lee Taylor. Another good, conscientious justice was Rhoads Brown of Woodville, Dr. Brown’s son. He was the one who tried a case on a rock outside.”

Keeping Up With

Current Law

When E.T. Keyser worked as a justice of the peace, he kept up with current state and local law by reviewing the acts of the Assembly. Aubrey Keyser has the publication that belonged to his grandfather with the laws passed during the Assembly of 1896.

Commercial fertilizer was of great concern that year and local justices played a role in laws passed governing its quality and sale. Evidently, big-city salesmen were selling loads of fertilizer to unsuspecting farmers, promising bigger yields, better crops, healthier livestock. The General Assembly dealt constantly with the quality of fertilizer sold in Virginia by regulating its composition: “it shall not include lime, land plaster, ashes, or common salt, or tobacco stems, ground or unground.” Four acts were passed by that one Assembly to protect Virginia farmers from fraudulent fertilizer.

Who was to make sure that the fertilizer did not contain any of these forbidden items? This is where the justice of the peace came in. For the fee of 25 cents for this service, the justice serving the district containing the farm to be fertilized was to meet the farmer and in his presence; “draw from the fertilizer a fair and correct sample. and in the presence of both seller and buyer, the sample thus drawn shall then be put in a glass or tin vessel and securely sealed, and there shall then be placed on said vessel a label, and

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