Recent Additions to the Collection: Spring 2014 - Law Library

Exhibits

Please visit the Rare Book Room to view many rare books, manuscripts, and memorabilia that have been added to our collection in the past two years.聽

The exhibit largely features items that supplement our working lawyer鈥檚 collection, particularly our 19th century American lawyer collection. There are books that would have appeared such a practitioner鈥檚 library and actual documents produced in colonial and early American litigation. Additionally, we have cartoons, broadsides, and some new additions to our Francis Bacon collection.聽

You are invited to view the exhibit anytime the room is open: generally weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit will remain on view through mid-August 2014.聽

Cat. of J. G. Deanes Lib, [Portland, ME] AD 1826.

This law library inventory is probably that of Portland, Maine attorney Joseph G. Deane. The 97 titles in the inventory, which was probably created for insurance purposes, include case reporters, form books, and treatises. Many of them are titles that we own as part of our working lawyer鈥檚 collection.
Jesse Harding Recognizance about Killing the Indian. Eastham, Mass., 1723.

Harding, a fourteen year-old laborer in Eastham, was indicted for the murder of Betty Stephen, identified as an Indian woman. This recognizance holds Harding to a bond of 500 pounds. Some background research by Michael von der Linn at Lawbook Exchange led to a summary of the subsequent findings by the grand jury.聽 Apparently, despite finding that Jesse fatally shot Betty in the neck in an act of premeditation, the grand jury returned the bill of indictment with the notation "ignoramus," which means that the bill was rejected and the parties discharged.聽One has to wonder how much the victim's race, as well as the accused's age, factored into the grand jury's determination.
Ichabod Allis Complaint against Medad Negro. Hatfield, Mass., 1746-47.

Medad Negro, identified as the manservant of Seth Dwight, is accused of burning down Allis's barn. Medad apparently confessed.聽 Israel Williams, the Justice of the Peace who wrote up the complaint, references Medad being jailed and bound over for trial in Springfield Superior Court.
Verso of Ichabod Allis Complaint against Medad Negro. Hatfield, Mass., 1746-47.

On the back of the complaint, we can see that three witnesses鈥擡lisha Allis (presumably the son of the complainant), David Belding, and Jonathan Bardwell, put up 10 pounds bond each to testify.
George Moutard Woodward, Justice [and] Attorney.[London], c. 1785.

Woodward鈥檚 caricature plays on the differences between justices of the peace and attorneys. The justice of the peace has a scruffy little dog and a haughty looking assistant; he also has a common J.P. manual (Burn鈥檚 Justice) open on the table before him. In the adjacent pane, the lawyer is excited to get a new client bringing in business in the form of a presumably lucrative lawsuit.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Bar Book. 1797-1910.

This manuscript contains a tremendous amount of information about practice before the S.J.C.. You can see the original rules of the S.J.C., followed by the oath administrated to lawyers trying cases before the court and their signatures accepting the oath. What a concrete connection between us and over a century of Massachusetts聽bar聽leaders! Do any of the names ring a bell?
Agreement between William Thurston and John M. Fiske. [Boston], 1819-1821.

This partnership聽agreement聽between two Boston attorneys illustrates the business side of operating a law practice. Thurston and Fiske鈥檚 partnership聽lasted three full years.
Page 2 of Agreement between William Thurston and John M. Fiske. [Boston], 1819-1821.
Page 3 of Agreement between William Thurston and John M. Fiske. [Boston], 1819-1821.

This page contains a particularly charming provision that places responsibility on Thurston for taking care of 鈥渢he expenses of the Office, including Rents, Taxes, Stationery, Wood & Candles, together with the wages of the Office Boy[鈥鈥�.
Page 4 of Agreement between William Thurston and John M. Fiske. [Boston], 1819-1821.

Thurston and Fiske鈥檚 partnership lasted three years; this final page of the agreement includes a note dissolving the partnership at the end, dated Dec. 31, 1821.
Joseph Story letter to William Tudor. Salem, 1819.

The contents show a rare glimpse into the opinion of an active Supreme Court justice on a matter before the U.S. Congress.聽Story was a longtime supporter of聽federal bankruptcy legislation.聽The first federal Bankruptcy Act, adopted in 1800, had been repealed in 1803. When this letter was written, Congress was considering a new聽bankruptcy bill, which Story clearly supported.
Page 2 of Joseph Story letter to William Tudor. Salem, 1819.

Story鈥檚 correspondent, William Tudor, had asked for Story's support in securing a position as a Commissioner of Bankruptcy under the new legislation, if passed. Story voices his support while noting that it's unclear who would have the power to make the appointment--the executive or the judiciary. In the end, the law that was the subject of the letter failed to pass, but another one that Story actually helped draft was ultimately passed by Congress in 1841.
Address and seal, Joseph Story letter to William Tudor. Salem, 1819.

If you are interested in seeing other correspondence to and from Joseph Story, a great resource is the marvelous from the Harvard Law Library!
Francis Bacon, Of Gardens. London, 1902.

This gorgeous book was printed in 1902 at the Eragny Press, an English press owned and operated by Lucien Pissarro (son of the great impressionist Camille) and his wife, Esther.聽It is a stunning little book, printed on handmade paper with beautiful type and borders. Two-hundred twenty-six copies were printed, and two-hundred of those were offered for sale.聽This copy once belonged to Leonard Baskin (1922-2000), the American sculptor, art professor at Smith College, and founder of the Gehanna press, which printed its own edition of Of Gardens in 1959.