Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/219

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 159 eept in capital eases, and it had also civil jur- isdiction ; besides its criminal and civil author- ity the court was charged with general ad- ministrative functions in the county; it was the authority for the letting of contracts, for levying taxes and supervising the expenditures of the county, thus having the powers and duties which are now vested in a county court. Besides the court in general quarter ses- sions, there was also organized a court of common pleas composed of two or more jus- tices of the peace and having civil jurisdiction in cases involving less than $100. There was also a probate coiu't and justice courts pre- sided over by single ju.stices of the peace. In 1813 all the courts, except the single jus- tice courts, were combined to form a court of common pleas which thus had authority over both criminal and civil matters, over probate matters and was also vested with administra- tive authority in the county. In 1816 circuit courts were organized in the territory which was divided into two circuits, the northern and southern ; all judicial mat- ters were put under the supervision of the circuit courts as well as a large part of the administrative business in each coimty. This organization marks the greatest concentration of judicial and administrative authority to be foimd in the history of the state. The circuit court with its powers to try both civil and criminal cases was also vested with all powers now held by probate and coimty courts; this great concentration of power lasted imtil the adoption of the state constitution in 1820. Besides the courts which we have men- tioned the principal coimt.v officers were the sheriff, who was also collector and treasurer, coroner, assessor, recorder and the constables of the townships. The duties of these officers were not very different from the duties which they discharge today, the sheriff is no longer collector and treasurer, though up until with- in very recent years he was in many counties the collector as well as sheriff. The court of quarter sessions of the peace for Ste. Genevieve district was organized De- cember 11, 1801. The judges of this court were : Moses Austin, Jacques Guibord, Ben- jamin Strother, John Hawliins and Francois Valle. William C. Carr was appointed as the acting prosecutor ; Israel Dodge was the sheriff of the di.striet and he brought in a jury which acted as a grand jury. The grand jury made no indictments at this first term of the court. The principal business transacted was the ap- pointment of constables for the different sec- tions of the district. They were : Andrew Morris for New Bourbon, Peter Laurel for Ste. Genevieve, Joseph Tucker for the terri- tory on the Saline, Thomas Donohue between the Saline and Apple Creek, John Paul for Bellevue and Bernard Foster for Mine a Breton. The sheriff, Israel Dodge, was di- rected to receive bids for the building of a jail. It was to stand on the public square in Ste. Genevieve, was to be 25x15 feet and to have double walls of timber one foot in thick- ness with rock filling. This jail was reported finished in September, 1805. In the same year, the court made a levy for taxes for the district. Assessors were appointed for the different settlements, who were instructed to make lists of the property held bj' each citi- zen. The amount of the tax levy for all of Ste. Genevieve district was $1,171.91. In 1807 the district was divided into six townships : Breton. Bellevue, St. Michaels, Big River, Ste. Genevieve and Cinque Homme. In 1814, Saline township was formed from parts of Ste. Genevieve and Cinque Homme and included the soith part of the present county of Ste. Genevieve and the west part of