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Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Nathan discusses trial by ordeal and the dangers of too much judicial combat in the works of Friedrich Majer
Posted in: Law Library, Collections
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: Law Library, Collections
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Last Halloween, a post on this blog introduced the subject of witch trials in France from the 15th through the 18th centuries. In this post, I would like to take a look at one of the most important French works on the crime of witchcraft and its prosecution, a book that gave considerable encouragement to …
Posted in: Law Library, Collections
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
As part of its comprehensive collection development objectives, the Law Library of Congress collects the laws of nations of the world, including historic works that document the earliest layers of those nations’ legal heritage. A recent acquisition for the Law Library’s Rare Book Collection captures one such moment in the history of the laws of …
Posted in: Law Library, Collections
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
Erika Hope Spencer discusses avenues for research in Library of Congress collections on the subject of Witchcraft.
Posted in: Law Library, Collections, Women's History
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: Law Library, Collections
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: Law Library, Collections
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: Law Library, Collections
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
In recent posts, I have pointed out that while the Law Library’s rare books collection is in principle a collection of printed books, we sometimes have the good fortune to acquire unique documents created by important Americans in the course of their public careers. One example of these was a document signed by two 17th-century …
Posted in: Law Library, Collections