April 10: Rare Books Open House!

All are invited to the Riesenfeld Center's April rare books open house, this 
Wednesday, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.! 

Come out and enjoy free snacks and drinks, and see treasures from the library's rare books and special collections. 

When: Wednesday, April 10th, 12 p.m - 3 p.m. 
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Center* 
What: Rare books, cookies, snacks, and drinks! 

(*The Center is in N30, on the sub plaza past Sullivan Cafe and N20.)

Wednesday, March 6: Spring Exhibits Open House!

All are invited to the Riesenfeld Center's spring exhibits Open House, this Wednesday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.! 

The exhibits honor the career and achievements of Judge Diana E. Murphy ('74) (1934-2018) and trailblazers like her, based on the recent donation of Judge Murphy's judicial and professional papers. For more on the new exhibits, see our recent blog post.

"A Legacy Preserved: The Papers of Judge Diana E. Murphy"

and

"Women in the Law: Pioneers of the Courtroom"

Come out and see the exhibits, enjoy snacks and refreshments, and take a quiz for prizes! 

When: Wednesday, March 6th, 12 p.m - 4 p.m. 
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Center 
What: Spring exhibits, snacks, refreshments, and a quiz for prizes! 

New Library Exhibits: "A Legacy Preserved: The Papers of Judge Diana E. Murphy" and "Women in the Law: Pioneers of the Courtroom"

The Riesenfeld Center is pleased to announce the Law Library's spring exhibits:

"A Legacy Preserved: The Papers of Judge Diana E. Murphy"

and

"Women in the Law: Pioneers of the Courtroom"

Judge Diana E. Murphy ('74) (1934 – 2018) was a trailblazer of the American courtroom. In a judicial career that spanned four decades, Judge Murphy was the first woman appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (1980), and the first woman appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (1994). Judge Murphy’s opinions left a remarkable imprint on the federal courts, where she shaped the law in areas from due process to free speech and guided key issues ranging from employment discrimination to American Indian rights. Not only active on the bench, Judge Murphy was deeply involved in professional and civic service, including her work as the first woman to chair the United States Sentencing Commission (1999-2004), and as a board member and trustee of numerous organizations, among which were local colleges and universities. 

The Law Library is proud to commemorate Judge Diana E. Murphy’s career in its spring exhibit, which has been made possible through the generous donation of her judicial and professional papers by her sons, John and Michael Murphy. The extensive donation of papers is a testament to the enduring importance of Judge Murphy’s legacy. The Riesenfeld Center is honored to preserve Judge Murphy's archive and to support research into her career and opinions by future generations of students, faculty, and researchers. 

To contextualize the achievements of Judge Murphy and to celebrate many other trailblazers like her, the Library has mounted a second exhibit, "Women in the Law: Pioneers of the Courtroom," highlighting the history of women in the law and the achievements of women on the bench.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

February 20: Rare Books Open House!

All are invited to the Riesenfeld Center's first rare books open house of the semester, next Wednesday, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.! 

Come out and enjoy free snacks and drinks, and see treasures from the library's rare books and special collections. 

When: Wednesday, February 20th, 12 p.m - 3 p.m. 
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Center* 
What: Rare books, cookies, drinks and snacks! 

In addition to other treasures, we'll preview some of our upcoming spring exhibits, based on the recent donation of the judicial papers of Judge Diana E. Murphy ('74):

A Legacy Preserved: The Papers of Judge Diana E. Murphy 

and

Women in the Law: Pioneers of the Courtroom 

(*The Center is in N30, on the sub plaza past Sullivan Cafe and N20.)

New Rare Acquisitions: The Glorious Revolution

The Riesenfeld Center has recently acquired several items related to England's Glorious Revolution, which add to existing strengths in early English law and the history of constitutional law in the rare books collection. 

The Glorious Revolution involved a momentous series of events in 1688 and 1689, which tested the fabric (and the fiction) of constitutional government under a monarch.  King James II (1633-1701), son of the political survivor King Charles II (1630-1685), was tolerated less and less during his short reign (1685-88) for his Catholicism and for the suspension by his prerogative power of laws that prohibited Catholics from serving in public office. When Parliament objected, James followed his Stuart predecessors and dismissed the national legislative body in 1685, planning to fill it with men who would repeal those laws.  Before he could realize the plan, he also produced a male Catholic heir, traditionally seen as the final straw of his reign.  Opposition leaders called upon William, the Prince of Orange (1650-1702) and husband of James's daughter, Mary, to protect the country's "religion, lawes and liberties."  William made the journey to England from Holland at the head of an army, and James duly fled, giving the events the name of a "glorious" (and comparatively bloodless) revolution that has been preserved.  It is ironic, of course, that the furor over a king's abuse of power was caused by efforts to mitigate laws excluding a minority religion.

From a constitutional standpoint, William's invited invasion created another rather difficult problem: how to approach the question of an altered line of succession, and a new monarch, in law?  The king had by right traditionally called Parliament, but this Parliament was in effect calling a king.  And how to describe the action of James - was it an abdication or a desertion of the seat of power, and was the throne vacant?  Fine-pointed discussions turned on the law, and the meaning of James's act and its effects, as these were taken up and debated in a constitutional convention called to recognize William as king, and to settle the question of how William came to the throne.  In the end, constitutional devices were found, at least to the satisfaction of a majority of the convention's participants, to what was ultimately a political problem.  Apart from the wrangling, and the success of a new claimant, the most important item to result from the Revolution was the English Bill of Rights, a set of laws and rights that Parliament believed was fundamental to their nation, and could not be traduced by a king.  Prominently, the Bill of Rights required that no king suspend statutory law without the consent of Parliament, and that none would grant individual dispensations from the laws as had "been exercised of late."  Among other clauses were the prohibitions on excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments.  William agreed to limit the power of his government in order to take up the throne, the document was memorialized in statutory law, and it went on to influence the American Bill of Rights one hundred years later.

In our collection, we have a copy of the English Bill of Rights contained in laws issued in the first year of William and Mary's reign, and now several important related documents.  The first is a speech of William, Prince of Orange, convening (some) members of Parliament while in London in late December, 1688; and Parliament's hasty reply, requesting that William take over the affairs of state.  The second is a rare and very interesting broadside (below) listing all those called from each county in England to Parliament in an attempt to recognize William as king and Mary as queen.  The third is a speech by William in February 1689, just after he and Mary had accepted the Declaration of Rights (what became the English Bill of Rights in statute), which shows the negotiated nature of William and Mary's government, and the beginnings of England's more modern constitutional monarchy.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections       

  

Finals Study Break: Wednesday, Dec. 13

Come out this Wednesday for a study break during finals!  Grab coffee and tasty fresh-baked donuts outside the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center.

When: Wednesday, December 12, 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Where: Outside the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center (N30 - on the sub-plaza past Sullivan Cafe)

What: Coffee and donuts!

Good luck on finals, and best wishes for the holidays from the Law Library!

New Acquisition: Judge Diana Murphy's Papers

The papers of Judge Diana Murphy ’74—the first woman to serve as a federal district judge in Minnesota and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit—have been generously donated to the Law Library by her sons, John and Michael Murphy. Judge Murphy passed away in May at 84, having served as a federal judge for 38 years. She left an indelible legacy as an outstanding member of the federal judiciary and as a trailblazer and leader in the local and national legal communities. 

After completing undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, and raising a family at home, Diana Murphy returned to attend the Law School, where she was an editor of the Minnesota Law Review and graduated with honors. She began her legal career with the Minneapolis law firm of Lindquist & Vennum and later served as a Hennepin County judge. Murphy was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in 1980, and to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1994.   

On the bench, Murphy was universally lauded for her fairness, her comprehensive understanding of the issues, and her untiring efforts on behalf of law and justice. As Professor Carol Chomsky has written: “Judge Murphy stood with ordinary people against the sometimes arbitrary hand of bureaucratic decision-making.” Her career was marked by important rulings, including Lewis v. Heartland Inns (2010), a Title VII civil rights case, in which Murphy authored a panel opinion that disallowed the use of gender stereotypes to deny promotion to a woman. In Nelson v. Correctional Medical Services (2009), Murphy wrote the en banc opinion finding that shackling inmates in the late stages of labor constituted “cruel and unusual punishment.” She was also involved in key cases relating to American Indian law throughout her career, including Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians v. Minnesota (1994) and Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land and Cattle Company (2007).

Murphy’s service in judicial and educational organizations was exemplary as well. She was chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 1999 to 2004 and chaired the 8th Circuit Gender Fairness Implementation Committee. She served on the board of directors of the Federal Judges Association, as its president from 1989 to 1991, and as chair of the American Judicature Society. She was active in the American Bar Association and served on the Minnesota Constitutional Study Commission and board of governors of the Minnesota State Bar Association. Beyond the bench, Judge Murphy served as chair of the board of regents of St. John’s University, trustee of the University of Saint Thomas, national president of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, and trustee of the University of Minnesota Foundation. Murphy also received numerous honors during her career: she was named a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, received the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award, and was named Honoree of the Year by the National Association of Women Judges, among many others.

The papers that the Law Library has received constitute a full record of Murphy’s career on the 8th Circuit bench. The large collection includes case files, conference notes, annotations, memoranda, and other correspondence between judges; subject and other files related to Murphy’s judicial service—including her work on the Sentencing Commission—and documents reflecting a wide range of her civic service. 

“The Law Library is very grateful to be able to add Judge Murphy’s papers to its collections,” said Professor Joan Howland, associate dean for information and technology and director of the Library. “They offer a fascinating window into the working life and judicial thinking of a pioneering woman jurist during an important era in recent legal history. In addition to its value for studying Judge Murphy’s career, the collection represents a rich trove for the study of the federal judiciary, and will be of great benefit to future students and scholars.”

In spring 2019, the Library will mount an exhibit commemorating the career and legacy of Judge Murphy and highlighting achievements of women in the law, drawing from the new collection of papers and from the Library’s extensive archives and special collections.  

  - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections