From Our Stacks: Historical US State Law

This summer we have begun re-organizing and shifting parts of the rare books collection, including our collection of historical US state and territorial law. In undertaking the project, we are without the advice and help of our friend and colleague, Ed Gale, who passed away recently. His insights and presence are sorely missed. 

The state law collection is one of the Riesenfeld Center's areas of strength and takes up several rows in our stacks. A large part of the material comprises session laws and law reports, and we have journals of state constitutional conventions, digests, local ordinances, justice of the peace manuals, chancery reports, draft penal codes and a variety of other, often very interesting, material. 

One example, a copy of Documents of the Convention of the State of New York, 1867-68 (Albany, 1868), is witness to important local and national history. The records reveal the deep opposition faced by attempts to expand voting rights for African-Americans, in the wake of the Civil War and in the heart of the "free" northern states. Though slavery was abolished in New York in 1827, African-Americans without property or with criminal convictions were disqualified from voting; the property stipulation was unique at the time to New York. During the '67-'68 convention, the report of the committee on the right of suffrage noted that equal voting rights amendments were defeated 223,884 to 85,306 in 1846, and 337,984 to 197,503 in 1850. The committee advised that the matter be sent again to a state-wide referendum, and it was not until 1874, four years after the Fifteenth Amendment, that the property requirement was abolished by state amendment. For more, see Jim Crow in New York, by Erika Wood and Liz Budnitz.

Another example, from territorial New Orleans, reflects an interesting debate over early US libel laws. In a case reported by Francois-Xavier Martin in the Superior Court of New Orleans Territory in 1810, a judge dismissed an appeal against a libel conviction, where the appellant argued for the liberty of the press and invoked the truth of the libel as a defense. The court cited English common law - which had been adopted in the territory only several years earlier - that the truth of a libel was not admissible evidence. The court then cited Spanish and French law, which previously had jurisdiction in the territory, and invoked other US state laws, in rejecting the appeal. The court even acknowledged New York's People v. Croswell (though not the Zenger trial), from which arose the first statute allowing truth as a defense against libel. In the end, the New Orleans court found other state evidence (and the lack of contradicted English tradition) more persuasive in the early republic.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

 

   

The Reister Collection: Description and Highlights

Hale, The Law of Hereditary Descents
(London, 1700)

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Center's recent acquisition of the Reister collection on wills, trusts and estates in Anglo-American law contains a rich range of titles, useful for students of the history of inheritance laws, testamentary practice and estate management. The titles may also be of interest to historians of family law, women's history, and those studying the divergence of American legal doctrines from their English sources.

In England, feudal customs on the division of property, including practices like primogeniture, arose and were reinforced in the medieval period. The first great treatise of English law, Glanvill's 12th-century work on the laws and customs of England, discusses inheritance and importantly records the priority of heirs, from closest kin to most remote.  

The earliest work in the Reister collection, a first edition of Henry Swinburne's A Briefe Treatise of Testaments and Last Willes (London, 1590), treats testaments in church law and is informed by the civil law in which Swinburne was trained. The popular and useful treatise was reprinted into the early 19th century. Works by important English jurists, including Matthew Hale's Law of Hereditary Descents (London, 1700), Francis Bacon's Reading upon the Statute of Uses (London, 1642), and William Blackstone's Treatise on the Law of Descents in Fee Simple (London, 1759), are also represented in the collection.

American material, like Robert McClellan's The Executor's Guide (Albany, 1862), for New York, and Noah Cheever's Law and Practice of Probate Courts (Detroit, 1884), for Michigan, treats local probate laws. Influential 19th-century treatises, by authorities like Jarman, are similarly included, with subjects ranging from excluded persons, to repugnancy, to fraud and undue influence, as invalidating the provisions of wills. One interesting case of inheritance fraud is on our Tumblr site. Amidst the trove are also contemporary works on humorous last wills.

Menchin, The Last Caprice (New York, 1963)

A particularly unique treasure in the collection is an 18th-century manuscript, a copy of part of a work on wills and testaments, in the hand of lawyer Richard Sheridan. Interestingly, his notes were passed to another student or lawyer, John Smyly, before the end of the century. 

For more on historical laws of inheritance, see the Library of Congress website.  

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections











   

New Rare Books Acquisition: The Reister Collection

Henry Swinburne, A Briefe Treatise of
Testaments and Last Wills (London, 1590)

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Rare Books Center have recently received a donation of important rare law books from the collection of Raymond A. and Ruth A. Reister. The donation comprises nearly one hundred titles on inheritance, wills and estates in Anglo-American law that were collected by Mr. Reister during his lifetime. The books range from a rare 16th-century treatise, to valuable 17th- and 18th-century material, including books by William Blackstone and Francis Bacon, to humorous works on eccentric wills.  The collection represents a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in the history of this foundational area of law. The Reister collection will be kept permanently at the Law Library and Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center, and made available to patrons.

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Center is grateful to the trustees of the Ruth A. Reister Trust Estate, Robert Struyk (‘61) and Sonny Miller, for this generous donation. 

Raymond A. Reister (1929-2005), a long-time Minneapolis attorney, practiced for thirty-nine years at Dorsey and Whitney. A nationally recognized expert in Trust and Estate law, Mr. Reister was co-editor of Minnesota Estate Administration, and served, among other organizations, on the Board of the Minnesota Humanities Commission, as Treasurer of the Minnesota Historical Society, and Vice President of the Minneapolis Athenaeum. The Athenaeum seeks to acquire rare books and manuscripts for the public benefit. 

Mr. Reister's wife, Ruth A. Reister (1936-2015), graduated from Michigan Law School in 1964, as the only woman in her class. A leader in government and business, Ms. Reister worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, as deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and later served as president of FBS Agricultural Credit Corporation. She was also very active in the local community.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections



           

New Tumblr Posts: Illustrated Law Books

Detail from Damhoudere, Praxis rerum
criminalium (1570)

There are lots of great new posts on our Tumblr site, featuring more (wonderful) items from the Riesenfeld Center's collections. Barbara Berdahl, Special Collections Assistant Librarian, has mined rich veins of collection material in curating the Tumblr blog, and has mixed newly found and favorite items, from Supreme Court bobbleheads and fascinating trials, to medieval manuscript fragments. Although Barbara is departing soon, the Tumblr site is one terrific testament to her work.

Some of the greatest rare book and archival finds on the Tumblr blog are recent ones. Among many highlights, Barbara has honed in on examples of early modern illustrated works, including Andrea Alciato's pathbreaking Emblemata (1581), Johannes Buno's Memoriale Institutionum Juris (1672) - which uses intricate and beautiful visual mnemonics to teach principles of Roman law - and Joost de Damhoudere's Praxis rerum criminalium (1570), depicting in over 50 woodcuts the wide array of criminal offenses summarized in the work. Added to these are images from satirical works in our law and literature collection, our two accounts of the Minnesota state constitutional convention, a speech by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, images of medieval manuscript fragments that we have identified in the collection, and much more!

http://riesenfeldcenter.tumblr.com/
 
   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Good Luck on Finals from the Riesenfeld Center!

Giles Jacob, A Law Grammar
(London, 1817)

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Center wish everyone the best of luck on finals! 

Although (perhaps) not of immediate use on exams, the Library's rare books collection contains a range of early legal study guides, many of which were commercially successful and helped to expand the legal publishing market. The most popular and prolific author of these in the 18th century, Giles Jacob (1686-1744), was lambasted by Alexander Pope in the Dunciad as "the blunderbuss of law," but Jacob's business was lucrative and provided a useful service.  

In the rare books collection there are a number of Jacob's works. Jacob's A Law Grammar; or, the Rudiments of the Law (our edition, 1817), appealed to students and laymen. It covers elementary definitions, maxims and principles of law, including this classic: if A wishes to kill B but misses and shoots C, he is held guilty of murder; if without intent, it is manslaughter. The work was still in print in 1850, more than 100 years after its first publication in 1744. 

Another work, The Compleat Attorney's Practice, outlines the "best rules and practice" in the King's Bench and Common Pleas, summarizing actions and procedure in those courts. The Statute Law Common-placed is an index of terms treated in the common law, with the statutes where they could be found discussed.

Jacob's most successful work, A New Law Dictionary, first published in 1729, combines a law dictionary with an abridgement of statutes, both important reference tools that were familiar and well-used by English legal practitioners. Jacob's own favorite work was reputedly The Student's Companion, which starts with the basic legal definitions of "accusation" and "action." 

It is too bad that Jacob is not around today: he would try to pen (and profit from) the best study aids for today's exams.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections      

William Sharp (1900-1961), Courtroom Satirist

William Sharp, detail from
"Nothing But the Truth!"

The Law Library was recently gifted a new rare lithograph by William Sharp (1900-1961), the book illustrator, etcher and lithographer who was noted for his humorous and satirical trial sketches. Sharp (born Leon Schleifer) and his wife fled from Nazi Germany to New York in 1934, where he began his American career and adopted a name that reflected his craft and satirical talents. The Library's new lithograph - "Nothing But the Truth!" - depicts a man swearing on a Bible, a bailiff gazing up in disbelief, and a skeptical court reporter seated nearby. Beyond courtroom scenes, Sharp depicted American society at large, lampooning political figures and capturing typical personas and social scenes of the 1940s and 50s. For more on Sharp, see here and here.

"Nothing But the Truth!" has been generously donated by University of Minnesota alumnus and retired Minneapolis attorney Douglas A. Hedin. The work joins four other lithographs by Sharp, collectively known as the Sharp Collection, located on the second floor of the Law Library. The Sharp Collection was donated by Mr. Hedin and his wife Barbara S. Hedin, in memory of early Law School graduate James Manahan (1889) and his daughter Kathryn Manahan Hoxmeier (1925).

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Bobbleheads in the News

The Riesenfeld Center's current exhibit, "Equal Caricature Under Law: Supreme Court Bobbleheads by The Green Bag," has recently been featured in the Star Tribune. The article by Kim Ode, on the front page of the March 10 Variety section, highlights the exhibit, the history of the bobbleheads and the Honorable James M. Rosenbaum, who generously donated his collection to the Law Library and Riesenfeld Center. For more press on the popular bobbleheads, see here and here.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections