8Record of the Court of Chester County, 56 (3.iv.1685); Winthrop, Journal, 14 June 1631.

9Record of the Court of Chester County, 5, 9, 10, 12, 15.

10 Alan Tully found the following patterns in cases heard by the court of quarter sessions in Chester County, 1726-55:

 

number

percent

Crimes against persons

(192)

(27.7%)

Assault and battery

192

27.7%

Crimes against property

(158)

(22.8%)

Larceny

144

20.8%

Forgery and counterfeiting

8

1.1%

Forcible entry

6

0.9%

Crimes against morality

(167)

(24.1%)

Sexual offenses

159

22.9%

Keeping a disorderly house

8

1.2%

Crimes against order and authority

(56)

(8.1%)

Riot and disturbing the peace

31

4.5%

License violations

16

2.3%

Contempt of authority

9

1.3%

Crimes unidentified

93

13.4%

Crimes miscellaneous

28

4.0%

Total

694

100.1%

Source: Tully, William Penn’s Legacy, 190-91; a study of Philadelphia County in a later period found a higher incidence of property crimes; see A. H. Hobbs, “Criminality in Philadelphia, 1790-1810, Compared with 1937,” ASR 8 (1943), 198-200.

11 For the testimony of George Fox and John Bellers against capital punishment, see Herbert W. K. Fitzroy, “The Punishment of Crime in Provincial Pennsylvania,” PMHB 60 (1936), 244.