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Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Today, December 15, is Bill of Rights Day, the 230th anniversary of the ratification of the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. On this day in 1791, the Virginia General Assembly completed the ratification process for those amendments. Virginia’s ratification of the Bill of Rights fulfilled the requirement that federal constitutional amendments must …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Today is the 806th anniversary of the day King John of England committed to undertake the reforms that were enumerated in Magna Carta. King John granted Magna Carta to his barons on June 15, 1215, in order to halt their rebellion and to regain their support for his leadership. While Magna Carta was a document …
Posted in: Education, Event, In the News, Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Today, September 18, is the birthday of Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Joseph Story, one of the most important figures in 19th-century American law. For Justice Story’s birthday, we would like to present a select list of Story’s publications in Library of Congress collections. Born in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1779, Story read …
Posted in: Law Library
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
After Tariq and Clare posted earlier this week on Sedition Law in England and India, I found myself thinking about revolutions. Naturally the first thing that occurred to me was that today is the anniversary of one of the great events of the French Revolution, the March on Versailles. You can see a contemporary account …
Posted in: Pic of the Week
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
The United States has often been called “a nation of joiners.” For nearly three centuries, Americans have created and joined voluntary associations to pursue their shared goals and to meet the needs of their communities. Even today, voluntary associations are ubiquitous in American society, occupying a central place in the social and communal lives of …
Posted in: Event
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
As we approach the last day of the spooky season, I find myself rereading Robert Kirk’s 17th-century classic of fairy lore, The Secret Commonwealth. This book describes what people in Kirk’s time and community believed fairies were, where and how they lived, what they were able to do, and how they interacted with human beings. …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
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
In a post last month, I highlighted a document that the Law Library acquired for its rare book collection: a sea letter signed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in 1794 for the schooner Two Friends. In that post, I mentioned the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States. In this post, I …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library