When laws are formed around such a subjective topic such as morality, how could they have been enforced fairly and equitably on every member of the population?

The short answer is: they weren’t.

Based on the term papers produced by the Fairfax County Circuit Court, prosecuting someone with a breach of a morality law was different based on the race, gender, and socio-economic status, of the defendant and the accused. For example, men who sued their wives for divorce had longer testimonies to the judge in chancery cases, allowing the accused women less opportunity to defend themselves.^[1] Fines levied as punishment also greatly varied depending on the race and social status of the victim. Even the question of who had access to the courts in the first place was racially biased, with most bastardy cases (with one notable exception) in Fairfax County focusing on a white man and a white woman. 

In the Fairfax County Archives, four notable bastardy cases illustrate the biases apparent when enforcing the punishment for morality laws. When the details of the cases are compared against each other, they reveal a notable disparity between race and social class in the latter half of the 19th century.

Starting with the Commonwealth of Virginia v. Strother Gibson (1867), white man Strother Gibson was found guilty of bastardy with “unmarried [white] woman” Ella Simpson. Gibson was ordered to pay a $100 fine, which, as seen in similar bastardy cases, was the standard amount.^[2] Another example of a standard situation was in Overseers of the Poor v. Jonathan Cockerille (1871), where the white Cockerille was found to be “the father of the child begotten on the body of Laura V. Boswell,” a white woman. Cockerille was also ordered to pay a $100 fine.^[3] However, what happened when the victim was of a lower or higher social standing than simply an “unmarried white woman”?^[4] If morality laws were enforced equally across all found guilty, the fine for bastardy would stay at $100. However, these two outliers show that the morality laws were not being equally enforced at all.

In the case of the Commonwealth of Virginia v. John Ridgeway (1873), the white John Ridgeway was found guilty of bastardy with an “unmarried white woman,” however this time Ridgeway was fined $200, double what the standard was at the time. Why would this penalty be enforced any differently than the first two bastardy cases? While the reason was not explicitly noted anywhere in the term papers, it could be because of the victim: Malinda Bayliss. The Bayliss family name was a prominent one in Fairfax County history, with the Bayliss House even being recorded as a Fairfax County Historic Site.^[5] Due to Malinda’s status as a Bayliss, the fine was likely increased to reflect Malinda’s membership in such a prominent family.

The opposite situation was apparent in the case of Nelly Bell v. Solomon Winston (1871). Nelly Bell, an “unmarried colored woman” sued “Solomon Winston (colored)” of bastardy. While the fine was raised in the case of prominent Malinda Bayliss, Solomon Winston’s fine was dropped down to a mere $18.25 from the standard $100.^[6] As the only African American woman who raised charges of bastardy in the Fairfax County archives, Nelly Bell was denied her full fine. The only difference in her case was her race and the race of the man she accused. The case of Nelly Bell v. Solomon Winston compared with Commonwealth of Virginia v. John Ridgeway clearly shows how Fairfax County enforced morality laws differently between different racial and social groups.

^[1] “Melius v. Melius,” n.d., 1866-022, Fairfax County Historic Records Center Chancery Cases 1803-1937.

^[2] “Commonwealth of Virginia v. Strother Gibson,” n.d., Box 070, Folder 1867-423, Fairfax County Historic Records Center Term Papers 1860-1869.

^[3] “Overseers of the Poor v. Johnathan Cockerille,” n.d., Box 082, Folder 1871-316, Fairfax County Historic Records Center Term Papers 1870-1879.

^[4] “Commonwealth of Virginia v. Robert Petitt,” n.d., Box 057, Folder 1864-042, Fairfax County Historic Records Center Term Papers 1860-1869.

^[5] “MASTER LIST: FAIRFAX COUNTY INVENTORY OF HISTORIC SITES,” 2024.

^[6] “Nelly Bell v. Solomon Winston,” n.d., Box 080, Folder 1871-022, Fairfax County Historic Records Center Term Papers 1870-1879.