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Category: Law Library

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Unusual Laws: The Tudor Vermin Acts

Posted by: Robert Brammer

Continuing with our unusual laws series, we turn to Tudor Vermin Acts. These acts allowed officials to hinder the growth of vermin by placing a bounty on nuisance animals, creating an incentive for private citizens to take it upon themselves to eradicate what were believed to be agricultural pests. Since the United States inherited its common …

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Legal Writ in the Hand of Abraham Lincoln

Posted by: Robert Brammer

The Law Library of Congress houses approximately 60,000 rare items, 25,000 of which are contained in a climate controlled vault. To be classified as rare, an item generally must have been published prior to 1801. One of our interesting rare items is a petition for a writ of process handwritten by a young lawyer named …

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What is your Favorite Case? Part 1

Posted by: Robert Brammer

It seems that nearly every person who works with the law will, at some point in their career, come across a memorable case that stays with them.  The circumstances could be inspiring, outrageous, or in my case, humorous.  I have already written about my favorite case, Nickerson v. Hodges, 146 La. 735, 84 So. 37 (La. …

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Unusual Laws: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

Posted by: Robert Brammer

Law is a serious profession, but as anyone who has ever picked up a wacky laws book would know, law can occasionally be a source of humor. We’ve discussed unusual laws from foreign jurisdictions in the past. Today, we return to the United States to discuss the unusual case of Nickerson v. Hodges. Nickerson frequently …