Parson's Cause

Parson's Cause

Dispute involving English clergy in colonial Virginia over payment of salaries. When the British vetoed colonial laws that substituted currency for tobacco as payment for clerical salaries (1759), the clergy sued for back pay. In the most publicized case (1763), Patrick Henry defended a colonial parish against a suit by a clergyman, citing interference by the British and convincing a jury to return only one penny in damages. The clergy soon gave up their protest.