The authority of the Fair Play tribunal extended across the entire territory from Lycoming Creek to the Great Island on the north side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna. However, most of the disputed cases, which can be verified by subsequent court reviews in either Northumberland or Lycoming counties, seem to have involved land claims in the area between Lycoming and Pine creeks. The tribunal accepted or rejected claims for settlement in the area and decided boundary questions and other controversies among settlers.[13] As to a specific code of laws, there is none of record. However, the cases subsequently reviewed in the established county courts refer to some of their regular practices. For example, any man who left his improvement for six weeks without leaving someone to continue it, lost his right to the improvement;[14] any man who went into the army could count on the Fair Play men (the tribunal) to protect his property;[15] any man who sought land in the territory was obliged to obtain not only the approval of the Fair Play men but also of his nearest potential neighbors;[16] and the summary process of ejectment which the Fair Play men exercised was real and certain and sometimes supported by the militia.[17]
The specific membership of the Fair Play tribunal is rather difficult to ascertain due to its failure to keep minutes of its proceedings and the absence of any recorded code. However, as indicated earlier,[18] the existence of the tribunal between the years 1773 and 1778, and its actual composition in 1775 and 1776, have already been established from the review of its decisions by the Circuit Court of Lycoming County. Assuming the principle of rotation from a contemporary description, some eighteen settlers held the positions of authority during the years noted.[19] The cases reviewed reveal the names of five of these eighteen. Recognizing the limitations of our twenty-eight per cent sampling, however, it is interesting to note that the three major national stocks are represented in this restricted sample. Furthermore, as was mentioned previously,[20] the Scotch-Irish settlers, being in the majority, enjoyed the majority representation on the tribunal. An analysis of leadership in the territory, to be developed more fully later, leads one to conclude that the Scotch-Irish, in the main, were the political leaders of the area.[21]
A diligent search of some sixty cases in the Court of Common Pleas in both Northumberland and Lycoming counties yielded some documentary evidence regarding the procedures of the Fair Play tribunal.[22] Three cases in Lycoming County and one from Northumberland County contain depositions which describe the activities of the Fair Play men in some detail. One case, Hughes vs. Dougherty, was appealed to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth. All of the cases deal with the question of title to lands in the Fair Play territory following the purchase of these lands at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. The depositions taken in conjunction with these cases indicate the processes of settlement and ejectment, in addition to the policies regarding land tenure. The fairness of the Fair Play decisions is noted by the fact that the regular courts concurred with the earlier judgments of the tribunal.[23]
An anecdote involving one of the Fair Play men, Peter Rodey, illustrates the nature of this frontier justice. According to legend, Chief Justice McKean of the State Supreme Court was holding court in this district, and, curious about the principles or code of the Fair Play men, he inquired about them of Peter Rodey, a former member of the tribunal. Rodey, unable to recall the details of the code, simply replied: "All I can say is, that since your Honor's coorts have come among us, fair play has entirely ceased, and law has taken its place."[24]
The justice of "fair play" and the nature of the system can be seen from an analysis of the cases reviewed subsequently in the established courts. As mentioned previously, these cases describe the procedures regarding settlement, land tenure, and ejectment. Although no recorded code of laws has been located, references to "resolutions of the Fair Play men" regularly appear in the depositions and summaries of these cases.[25] According to Leyburn, a customary "law" concerning settlement rights operated on the frontier, particularly among the Scotch-Irish.[26] This "law" recognized three settlement rights: "corn right," which established claims to 100 acres for each acre of grain planted; "tomahawk right," which marked off the area claimed by deadening trees at the boundaries of the claim; and, "cabin right," which confirmed the claim by the construction of a cabin upon the premises. If the decisions of the regular courts are at all indicative, Fair Play settlement was generally based upon "cabin right." However, the frequent allusion to "improvements" implies some secondary consideration to what Leyburn has defined as "corn right."
In the case of Hughes vs. Dougherty, the significance of "improvements," or "corn rights," vis-à-vis "cabin rights" is particularly noted.[27] The following summary of that case, found in Pennsylvania Reports, emphasizes that significance, in addition to defining a Fair Play "code" pertaining to land tenure:
THIS was an ejectment for 324 acres of land, part of the Indian lands in Northumberland county.
The plaintiff claimed under a warrant issued on the 2d May 1785, for the premises, and a survey made thereon upon the 10th January 1786. The defendant, on the 20th June 1785, entered a caveat against the claims of the plaintiff, and on the 5th October following, took out a warrant for the land in dispute, on which he was then settled. Both claimed the pre-emption under the act of 21st December 1784,[28] and on the evidence given the facts appeared to be:
That in 1773, one James Hughes, a brother of the plaintiff, settled on the lands in question and made some small improvements. In the next year he enlarged his improvement, and cut logs to build an house. In the winter following he went to his father's in Donegal in Lancaster county, and died there. His elder brother Thomas was at that time settled on the Indian land, and one of the "Fair Play Men," who had assembled together and made a resolution, (which they agreed to enforce as the law of the place,) that "if any person was absent from his "settlement for six weeks he should forfeit his right." [Quotation marks as published.]
In the spring of 1775 the defendant came to the settlement, and was advised by the Fair Play Men to settle on the premises which Hughes had left; this he did, and built a cabin. The plaintiff soon after came, claiming it in right of his brother, and aided by Thomas Hughes, took possession of the cabin; but the defendant collecting his friends, an affray ensued, in which Hughes was beaten off and the defendant left in possession. He continued to improve, built an house and stable, and cleared about ten acres. In 1778 he was driven off by the enemy and entered into the army. At the close of the war, both plaintiff and defendant returned to the settlement, each claiming the land in dispute.