[jQuery] .val is not a function

[trancehead]

All the core functions for JQuery seem to have stopped working.

Jquery is the first script include so it appears before the other
functions.
<script src="../../Shared/JS/jquery-1.3.1.min.js" type="text/
javascript"></script>
<script src="../../Shared/JS/Functions.js" type="text/javascript"></
script>
<script src="../../Shared/JS/PPFFunctions.js" type="text/javascript"></
script>

I'm using asp.net webforms so I have a function that fetches each
elements value for me according to the ID

// Returns the value of an element using JQuery to find ASP.NET
control ID - includes context for speed
getElementValueWithContext = function(elementId, context) {
    // Returns all elements that end with the elementId
    return getElementWithContext(elementId, context).val;
}

This gives the error .val is not a function. The strange thing is if I
return getElementWithContext(elementId, context).value; it works fine.

This is not really a huge issue but it affects other core functions
such as .html which I use a lot.

I've been trying to figure this out for 2 days now and I'm at an
absolute loss. Any suggestions?