Anne Orthwood's Bastard: Sex and Law in Early Virginia (Paperback)

by John Ruston Pagan (Author) "Virginians knew the central figure in this story as Anne Orthwood, but her actual surname was Harwood or Horwood..." (more)
Key Phrases: false warranty, caveat venditor, irrebuttable presumption, Eastern Shore, John Kendall, William Kendall (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pagan's Anne Orthwood's Bastard: Sex and the Lawin Early Virginia spin engaging yarns that tie together the best of recent scholarship while also interweaving fresh historical questions and issues....the kind of work tailor-made to grip and hold the imaginations of undergraduates in early American survey courses everywhere."--Reviews in American History
"Four cases provide the basis for John Ruston Pagan's intelligent and highly readable book." --Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
"superb analysis of the colony's nascent social, economic, and judicial structures. . . . terrific scholarship that adds significantly to historians' understanding of early Virginia. . . . Microhistories succeed when their case studies illuminate larger themes; at their best, the stories they tell rate as literature. John Pagan scores on both counts."- The Journal of Southern History
"John Pagan's subtle and sophisticated research and analysis and his lucid and evocative writing bring to life these Virginians of 350 years ago. The character sketches of the servants, justices of the peace, planters, jurors, and of Anne Orthwood and her lover are gems of historical writing....[An] excellent book."--Richmond Times-Dispatch


Product Description
In 1663, an indentured servant, Anne Orthwood, was impregnated with twins in a tavern in Northampton County, Virginia. Orthwood died soon after giving birth; one of the twins, Jasper, survived. Orthwood's illegitimate pregnancy sparked four related cases that came before the Northampton magistrates -- who coincidentally held court in the same tavern -- between 1664 and 1686. These interrelated cases and the decisions rendered in them are notable for the ways in which the Virginia colonists modified English common law traditions and began to create their own, as well as what they reveal about cultural and economic values in an Eastern shore community. Through these cases, the very reasons legal systems are created are revealed, namely, the maintenance of social order, the protection of property interests, the protection of personal reputation, and personal liberty. Through Jasper Orthwood's life, the treatment of the poor in small communities is set in sharp relief.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195144791
• ISBN-13: 978-0195144796
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History and Passion, December 5, 2005

By	Marcus "English Walker Talker" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Prof. John Ruston Pagan has plucked a young 17th Century woman from deepest obscurity to become the subject of his book: Anne Orthwood's Bastard : Sex and Law in Early Virginia. This is a scholarly effort - it is heavily footnoted and supported by a large bibliography - and a first-rate work of investigation and authorship. Central to Anne Orthwood's detailed history was the availability of original records from the earliest days of English settlement in America. These records are preserved in an old courthouse on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Dating from 1632, they are said to be the oldest English-language court records in America.

First a word about "bastard." Today, it is little more than a curse word. As recently as the 1930s, however, it was still imprinted on birth certificates and, as in 1632, described a child born out of wedlock. In 1632, however, bastardy was considered a serious breach of morals, as well, and was deeply resented for the costs it might impose on taxpayers and church parishioners. Caring for bastards was provided for in detail by church and state law. Someone must pay for the midwife, lying-in expenses, wet nurse, etc. and fund the child's early years. That person was the putative father, if he could be discovered, and if he had any money. Failing that, the church and state stepped in. Punishment, too, must be portioned out upon the mother and father for their immoral behavior - and shame would burden the blameless child.

Anne is, herself, born out of wedlock. Rather than bear the humiliating penance the church imposes, Anne's mother escapes to the city of Bristol. That city just happens to be England's western port and the jumping-off point for the New World. Hoping to escape the stain of her origins and her mind filled with exaggerated stories of abundant potential husbands there, Anne indentures herself to a colony-bound sea-captain. He, in turn, sails to the Eastern Shore and sells her services - her indenture - to William Kendall, an upright, uptight, and upwardly-striving plantation owner.

When Anne gets too friendly with Kendall's nephew, John, she is sold off to another land-owner who sells her to yet a third. In the meantime, however, she has become pregnant by John. There can be no marriage, however, because John must "marry up." Conviction for fornication is out, too, since it would tarnish the uncle's reputation. Anne's joyless life comes to an end, when, in the midst of childbirth, she is forced to reveal the father's name, following which she dies. In death, even her honesty is impugned. Anne's son is a healthy baby. With only eight months between conception and birth, a healthy baby is not possible - so testifies the ignorant midwife.

Anne's son, Jasper, lives and is quickly indentured (under English law) for the first 24 years of his life. Anne's third indenturer sues to recover what he paid for Anne's unfulfilled service. Caveat venditor prevails over caveat emptor. A series of suits deal with who is the father - John Kendall is named - what he must pay, and what morals charge he might be stuck with. John pays the bills, but thanks to the machinations of Uncle William, he is found innocent of fornication.

This is an American story - it has a happy ending. Jasper sues for his freedom at the age of 22. The English Poor Law of 1601 specified emancipation at 24. However, in 1672, when Jasper was nine years old, the Virginia Assembly voted to lower the age to 21. Would the court agree that the Virginia law could take precedence over English law and that it could do so retroactively also? Yes! Jasper wins! He wins, in part, because of the quiet intercession of his guilty great uncle, William Kendall, who, incredibly, is now Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Dr. Pagan is a law professor and a scholar with a law degree from Harvard and a PhD. from Oxford. His purpose in writing the book is to show how English common law, rigid and steeped in precedent, was gradually and ever so gingerly adjusted by parvenu JPs and magistrates to meet the special needs of the colony. The sad life and death of Anne Orthwood and the freedom of her son, generating no less than four court cases and, spanning 22 years, serve as an armature around which to wind American legal development. It also makes for a great story. I have to agree with Dr. Pagan: Anne's story is the stuff of great opera. Where is her Verdi or Puccini?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a great read, April 2, 2003

By	Janice Moore (Washington, D.C. USA) - See all my reviews

This scholarly work of legal history comes in a surprising package -- a gripping tale of early Virginia families and early colonial life and the economy. What a great way to learn about the development of American laws and their foundations!! It is so well written that I didn't want it to end.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Story of Seventeenth Century Life, February 21, 2003

By	James Schuyler (Richmond VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished reading John Pagan's amazing true story of life in colonial Virginia and it reveals so much about life during a period that is little understood in our nation's history. After giving us the facts in the introduction, he unveils the history and its implications as each chapter focuses on one individual who was crucial to the events and the four legal actions which resulted from these events. The detective work has been done for you by the author who spent his summer researching every minute detail that exists--you just sit back and enjoy the tale! It is a great read and an astute portrait of a slice of Virginia life in the 1660s to 1680s--and gives us much to think about as the colonies began to establish a unique American legal system adapted from English law. It also gives us a sense of how "sex" was regulated by government at that time, and how legal decisions relate to social and economic realities of life. It is amazing that this little vignette of forgotten lives is so interesting to read about today and brings up issues of privacy, government regulation, and how courts consider society's social and economic goals--issues that resonate with judicial decisions that are being made today. So please read and enjoy and think about Anne and her son Jasper Orthwood. I think they would be very pleasantly surprised to know that their story is being retold in 21st Century America!