Nicholas Trott
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Trott was an 18th century British
judge
, legal scholar and writer
. He had a lengthy legal and political career in Charleston, South Carolina
and served as the colonial chief justice
from 1703 until 1719. He came from a prosperous English family; his grandfather Perient Trott having been a husband
of the Somers Isles Company
and his uncle Sir Nicholas Trott served as the governor of the Bahamas. Sir Nicholas, like his nephew, was also involved in dealings with pirates and, to avoid confusion, is often referred to as Nicholas the Elder.
Though he is best known, as recorded in Daniel Defoe
's A General History of the Pyrates
, as the magistrate who tried notorious pirate Stede Bonnet
in 1718, he was the author of several published books including a lexicon
of the psalms
Clavis Linguae Sanctae (1719), The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet and Other Pirates (1719) and The Laws of the British Plantations (1721) for which he was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law
degree from Oxford University and a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Aberdeen
. His final published work, The Laws of the Province of South Carolina (1736), chronicled the early legal and judicial history of Charleston up until 1719.
, London
, England
, to Samuel Trott, a successful London merchant. His grandfather, Perient Trott, was a husband
of the Somers Isles Company
, the chartered company which was involved in the early colonization of Bermuda. His uncle Sir Nicholas Trott (or Nicholas the Elder) served as governor of the Bahamas.
Trott was educated at Merchant Taylor's School in London. In part due to his family's connections, he was appointed secretary
to the Somers Isles Company and attorney general
of Bermuda in 1693. He married his first wife, Jane Willis, in Bermuda a year later. In 1695, Trott became a member of the Inner Temple, one of London's four "Inns of Court" which served as a center of learning for training lawyers. Returned to Bermuda the following year, he took the office of attorney general and by all accounts "served ably" in that post.
to become attorney general and naval officer in the colony. He had been offered this post by Edward Randolph
, then surveyor general of the colonies. Trott's political and legal career was, while successful, also wrought with controversy due to his partisan political and religious views. His criticism of Joseph Blake
, who had succeeded the previous governor John Archdale
in 1696, resulted in Trott's arrest and removal from office. He was eventually restored to his former position by the colonial assembly in 1702 and was appointed chief justice
the next year.
An ardent supporter of the Church of England
, he was early member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He was also involved with other Anglicans to establish the Church of England within the colony and the suppress religious dissenters. This religious factionalism ended with the appointment of Charles Craven
in 1712. Trott, along with his brother-in-law William Rhett
, both had considerable support within colonial assembly and resisted Craven's policy of tolerance. Trott and Rhett may have been protected by Richard Shelton
, another highly influential figure in the colony.
For a period of four years, between 1711 and 1715, he and Rhett successfully sought to expand their powers though the Charleston electorate, the colonial governing body which elected the majority of the assembly members. Trott visited England in 1714 where he was given "extraordinary legal powers" by the colony proprietors which included his right to appoint a provost marshal
, this his presence was required in order to hold a quorum in the colonial council, and no additional laws could be passed without his approval. These powers were revoked two years later, however this did not prevent him from seeking to increase his power in the colony. By the time of his appointment as vice admiralty judge in 1716, he and Rhett controlled virtually all of royal and proprietary offices in South Carolina.
and his crew. Trott published a transcript of the trial, entitled The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet and Other Pirates, that provided extensive details of the trial and was included as a primary source
document in prominent collections of state trials published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His "comprehensive and detailed definition of piracy" was used by many other Vice Admiralty Judges of the day and helped shape the legal definition of piracy. His work was frequently cited in public international law into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
to act as royal governor. Shortly after his arrival, he restored all former proprietary officials with Trott as the only exception. Trott petitioned to have his office restored but eventually gave up.
Afterwards, Trott retired from public service and spent the rest of his life as a prolific legal scholar and writer. His works included, aside from his own memoirs of the Bonnet trial, a lexicon
of the psalms
Clavis Linguae Sanctae (1719) and The Laws of the British Plantations (1721). For these, he was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law
degree by Oxford University in 1720 and a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Aberdeen
in 1726. His last published work, The Laws of the Province of South Carolina (1736), included a collection of provincial laws during his time as colonial magistrate. It is considered one of the earliest and most important documents in early legal and judicial history of colonial South Carolina.
After the death of Jane Willis, Trott married Sarah Rhett, the widow of William Rhett, in 1727. He spent the last years of his life, according to personal correspondence and his later obituary from the South Carolina Gazette
, explicating
the Hebrew text of the Bible which has apparently been lost. He died in London on January 21, 1740, at the age of 77. He left small bequests to his "two grandchildren Sarah and Mary Jane Rhett", descendants of his second wife by her first marriage, but apparently had no children of his own.
One such example was a legal essay he authored, "Eight Charges", which featured a manuscript collection of grand jury charges and instructed jurors on the law and its applications in criminal cases. One of the charges referenced a Charleston defense case for the crime of witchcraft
, for which, indictments were sought but had been rejected "specter evidence". In this essay, Trott warned that "proof of witchcraft based on corroboration by evil spirits was by no means is to be relied on".
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, legal scholar and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He had a lengthy legal and political career in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and served as the colonial chief justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
from 1703 until 1719. He came from a prosperous English family; his grandfather Perient Trott having been a husband
Director-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
of the Somers Isles Company
Somers Isles Company
The Somers Isles Company was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles, also known as Bermuda, as a commercial venture. It held a royal charter for Bermuda until 1684, when it was dissolved, and the Crown assumed responsibility for the administration of Bermuda as a royal...
and his uncle Sir Nicholas Trott served as the governor of the Bahamas. Sir Nicholas, like his nephew, was also involved in dealings with pirates and, to avoid confusion, is often referred to as Nicholas the Elder.
Though he is best known, as recorded in Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
's A General History of the Pyrates
A General History of the Pyrates
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain, containing biographies of contemporary pirates. Influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates, it is the prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates...
, as the magistrate who tried notorious pirate Stede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "the gentleman pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his...
in 1718, he was the author of several published books including a lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
of the psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
Clavis Linguae Sanctae (1719), The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet and Other Pirates (1719) and The Laws of the British Plantations (1721) for which he was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws degrees....
degree from Oxford University and a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
. His final published work, The Laws of the Province of South Carolina (1736), chronicled the early legal and judicial history of Charleston up until 1719.
Early life and legal career
Nicholas Trott was born in LewishamLewisham
Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to Samuel Trott, a successful London merchant. His grandfather, Perient Trott, was a husband
Director-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
of the Somers Isles Company
Somers Isles Company
The Somers Isles Company was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles, also known as Bermuda, as a commercial venture. It held a royal charter for Bermuda until 1684, when it was dissolved, and the Crown assumed responsibility for the administration of Bermuda as a royal...
, the chartered company which was involved in the early colonization of Bermuda. His uncle Sir Nicholas Trott (or Nicholas the Elder) served as governor of the Bahamas.
Trott was educated at Merchant Taylor's School in London. In part due to his family's connections, he was appointed secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
to the Somers Isles Company and attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
of Bermuda in 1693. He married his first wife, Jane Willis, in Bermuda a year later. In 1695, Trott became a member of the Inner Temple, one of London's four "Inns of Court" which served as a center of learning for training lawyers. Returned to Bermuda the following year, he took the office of attorney general and by all accounts "served ably" in that post.
Chief justice in South Carolina
In 1699, Trott left Bermuda for Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
to become attorney general and naval officer in the colony. He had been offered this post by Edward Randolph
Edward Randolph
Edward Randolph , sometimes referred to as Edward Randolph of Bremo, was a ship captain, a London tobacco merchant, and the seventh and youngest son of William Randolph and Mary Isham.-Biography:...
, then surveyor general of the colonies. Trott's political and legal career was, while successful, also wrought with controversy due to his partisan political and religious views. His criticism of Joseph Blake
Joseph Blake
Joseph Blake may refer to:*Joseph Blake , English colonial administrator; governor of South Carolina in 1694, and 1696–1700...
, who had succeeded the previous governor John Archdale
John Archdale
John Archdale served as British colonial Governor of North Carolina and Governor of South Carolina in 1695 and 1696. He may have also been appointed to serve circa 1683-1686. Archdale was appointed to the position by the Lords Proprietors of Carolina.He first travelled from England to North...
in 1696, resulted in Trott's arrest and removal from office. He was eventually restored to his former position by the colonial assembly in 1702 and was appointed chief justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
the next year.
An ardent supporter of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, he was early member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He was also involved with other Anglicans to establish the Church of England within the colony and the suppress religious dissenters. This religious factionalism ended with the appointment of Charles Craven
Charles Craven
Charles Craven was governor of colonial South Carolina from 19 March 1712 to 23 April 1716. He held the office during the end of the Tuscarora War and the beginning of the Yamasee War...
in 1712. Trott, along with his brother-in-law William Rhett
William Rhett
Colonel William Rhett moved to the Province of Carolina in 1698. He soon became successful and gained a high rank and social status as a colonial leader. In 1706 it was Rhett who commanded a flotilla that fought off a Franco-Spanish attack on Charles Town...
, both had considerable support within colonial assembly and resisted Craven's policy of tolerance. Trott and Rhett may have been protected by Richard Shelton
Richard Shelton
Richard Shelton is an English actor and singer, best known to millions for playing the role of Dr Adam Forsythe on British television's daytime Soap Opera Emmerdale on ITV1...
, another highly influential figure in the colony.
For a period of four years, between 1711 and 1715, he and Rhett successfully sought to expand their powers though the Charleston electorate, the colonial governing body which elected the majority of the assembly members. Trott visited England in 1714 where he was given "extraordinary legal powers" by the colony proprietors which included his right to appoint a provost marshal
Provost Marshal
The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police .There may be a Provost Marshal serving at many levels of the hierarchy and he may also be the public safety officer of a military installation, responsible for the provision of fire, gate security, and...
, this his presence was required in order to hold a quorum in the colonial council, and no additional laws could be passed without his approval. These powers were revoked two years later, however this did not prevent him from seeking to increase his power in the colony. By the time of his appointment as vice admiralty judge in 1716, he and Rhett controlled virtually all of royal and proprietary offices in South Carolina.
Trial of Stede Bonnett
In 1718, Trott gained a certain degree of notoriety when he severed as Vice Admiralty Judge during the trial of Captain Stede BonnetStede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "the gentleman pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his...
and his crew. Trott published a transcript of the trial, entitled The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet and Other Pirates, that provided extensive details of the trial and was included as a primary source
Primary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
document in prominent collections of state trials published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His "comprehensive and detailed definition of piracy" was used by many other Vice Admiralty Judges of the day and helped shape the legal definition of piracy. His work was frequently cited in public international law into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Retirement and later years
By 1719, Trott had become very unpopular among his contemporaries and a formal complaint to the colony proprietors was made against him that year. These charges included claims that "he collected exorbitant fees in his courts, multiplied fees by delays in the proceedings, abused his office as judge by advising parties in cases pending before him, and monopolized the colony's political and judicial offices". This coincided with the fall of the proprietary government that same year, although Trott and Rhett activities were not considered to have been a contributing factor. The main reasons for replacing the proprietary government was their perceived failure to protect the colony from Indian raiding parties. The English government agreed to provide the colony with adequate protection and sent Francis NicholsonFrancis Nicholson
Francis Nicholson was a British military officer and colonial administrator. His military service included time in Africa and Europe, after which he was sent as leader of the troops supporting Sir Edmund Andros in the Dominion of New England. There he distinguished himself, and was appointed...
to act as royal governor. Shortly after his arrival, he restored all former proprietary officials with Trott as the only exception. Trott petitioned to have his office restored but eventually gave up.
Afterwards, Trott retired from public service and spent the rest of his life as a prolific legal scholar and writer. His works included, aside from his own memoirs of the Bonnet trial, a lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
of the psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
Clavis Linguae Sanctae (1719) and The Laws of the British Plantations (1721). For these, he was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws degrees....
degree by Oxford University in 1720 and a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
in 1726. His last published work, The Laws of the Province of South Carolina (1736), included a collection of provincial laws during his time as colonial magistrate. It is considered one of the earliest and most important documents in early legal and judicial history of colonial South Carolina.
After the death of Jane Willis, Trott married Sarah Rhett, the widow of William Rhett, in 1727. He spent the last years of his life, according to personal correspondence and his later obituary from the South Carolina Gazette
South Carolina Gazette
The South Carolina Gazette was South Carolina's first successful newspaper. The paper began in 1732 under J. Whitemarsh in Charlestown . but within only 2 years he died of yellow fever. In 1734 another former printer with Benjamin Franklin, Lewis Timothy, revived the Gazette and ran it until...
, explicating
Explication
The idea and practice of explication is rooted in the verb to explicate, which concerns the process of "unfolding" and of "making clear" the meaning of things, so as to make the implicit explicit...
the Hebrew text of the Bible which has apparently been lost. He died in London on January 21, 1740, at the age of 77. He left small bequests to his "two grandchildren Sarah and Mary Jane Rhett", descendants of his second wife by her first marriage, but apparently had no children of his own.
Legacy
Trott is considered to have been a highly important figure in the early history of South Carolina. Historian M. Eugene Sirmans has referred to him as "the most learned man in the colony". Aside from his involvement in the colonial assembly with William Rhett, Trott made important contributions to the legal development of South Carolina. His work as chief justice and later as a scholar illustrated the early development of American colonial law.One such example was a legal essay he authored, "Eight Charges", which featured a manuscript collection of grand jury charges and instructed jurors on the law and its applications in criminal cases. One of the charges referenced a Charleston defense case for the crime of witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
, for which, indictments were sought but had been rejected "specter evidence". In this essay, Trott warned that "proof of witchcraft based on corroboration by evil spirits was by no means is to be relied on".
Further reading
- Bridwell, Randall. "Mr. Nicholas Trott and the South Carolina Vice Admiralty Court: An Essay on Procedural Reform and Colonial Politics," South Carolina Law Review 28 (1976): 181.
- Canady, Hoyt P. Jr. Gentlemen of the Bar: Lawyers in Colonial South Carolina. New York: Garland Publishing, 1987.
- Davis, Richard Beale. Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763. Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1978.
- Hargrave, Francis, ed. A Complete Collection of State Trials. 4th ed., Vol. 6 (11 vols., 1776–1781), pp. 155–88.
- Hogue, L. Lynn. An Edition of 'Eight Charges Delivered, at So Many Several General Sessions, & Gaol Deliveries: Held at Charles Town in the Years 1703, 1704, 1705, 1706, 1707 by Nicholas Trott, Esq; Chief Justice of the Province of South Carolina. Ph.D. diss., Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1972.
- Hogue, L. Lynn. "Nicholas Trott: Man of Law and Letters". South Carolina Historical Magazine 76 (Jan. 1975): 25.
- Hogue, L. Lynn. "The Sources of Trott's Grand Jury Charges," in South Carolina Legal History, ed. Herbert A. Johnson (1980), pp. 23–37.
- Howell, Thomas Bayly, ed. Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials. Vol. 15 (33 vols., 1809–1826), pp. 1231–1302.
- Jervey, Theodore D. "Chief Justice Nicholas Trott's First Wife," South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 42 (1941): 187-88.
- Sirmans, M. Eugene. Colonial South Carolina: A Political History, 1663-1763. Chapel Hill: University of South Carolina Press, 1966.
- "Obituary". South Carolina Gazette, 2 Feb. 1740.