The modern distinctions between legislation and adjudication were far from clear. Many of the county courts not only settled disputes but exercised a general paternalistic authority over the localities and handled a wide variety of what we today would call “administrative” tasks, drawing on the community for help. The county courts were as much instruments of government as they were judicial bodies. They assessed taxes, granted licenses, oversaw poor relief, supervised road repair, set prices, upheld moral standards, and all in all monitored the localities over which they presided.12
