Mary Aggie and the Benefit of Clergy

Mary Aggie, an enslaved woman, was convicted of theft in York County in 1730. Lt. Gov. William Gooch, impressed with Mary's profession of faith when she had sued previously for her freedom, supported her 1730 claim for “benefit of clergy,” which then allowed only white men to escape the harshest penalties for most first offenses by reading a passage from the Bible. Gooch’s support resulted in Aggie’s pardon. In 1732, the General Assembly extended a limited form of benefit of clergy to all races and to women. Aggie was sold out of Virginia in 1731, probably never knowing her appeal’s significant legal effect. Virginia abolished the benefit by 1848.