"Oyes, Oyes, Oyes"

Procedures inside the court houses were patterned after those formal proceedings in England. In March of 1661, the General Assembly prescribed the following manner of opening the General Court:
     "Let the cryer or under sheriff make proclamation, and say, 'Oyes, Oyes, Oyes,
     Silence is commanded in court while his Majesty's Governor  and  Council are sitting, upon payne of imprisonment.'"

Source: Acts of Assembly 1661-2, Colonial Entry Book, vol. 1xxxciii.


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