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Posted by: Nathan Dorn
“There are two motives that have induced me to prefix a few lines by way of preface to the reader of the ensuing book. One is, that it is generally expected, and a book seems to come naked into the world without a preface; tho’ sometimes little or nothing to the purpose: but since custom …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
In previous posts, I have highlighted collections related to some of the authors who had an outsized impact on the early history of American lawbooks in the 19th century. Among these, Joseph Story and James Kent certainly remain central to any retelling of American legal history. Lesser known, but important for his contributions to American …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Erika Hope Spencer discusses avenues for research in Library of Congress collections on the subject of Witchcraft.
Posted in: Collections, Law Library, Women's History
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Last September, I published a post on this blog about Chancellor James Kent in which I wrote about Chancellor Kent’s role in promoting the professionalization of court reporting in America. In this post, I thought I would expand on the subject of legal research in early America by highlighting the first American author to publish …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Nathan discusses Joshua Montefiore, the first Jewish person to publish a law book in the United States.
Posted in: Collections, Jewish American History
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
In recent posts on this blog, I have written about the evidence used in 17th-century witch trials, both in America and in England. In those posts, I pointed out that proving the crime of witchcraft was no simple matter. Rules for evidence in criminal trials were not yet formalized at that time, and opinions about …
Posted in: Collections
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Last month on this blog, I highlighted a 15th-century manuscript that the Law Library recently acquired that contained work on the laws of war for knights in the Middle Ages. In this post, I would like to announce the acquisition of another new addition to the Law Library’s growing collection of medieval manuscripts, a 14th-century …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Last year, to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Compact, I wrote a post on this blog about the Compact’s origins and legacy in early American history. In that post, I wrote that the Compact served as a place-holder to acknowledge that the colonists were operating outside the region of North America that their …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Not long ago, I wrote a post on this blog about the use of spectral evidence in a criminal trial. Spectral evidence was testimony in which witnesses claimed that the accused appeared to them and did them harm in a dream or a vision. The Court of Oyez and Terminer that presided over the Salem …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library