84 research outputs found
Lawyers and Legal Change
From Tavern to Courthouse examines the legal history of early Massachusetts through the lens of courthouse architecture. It describes an emerging professional legal bar struggling to elevate its prestige through the construction of increasingly specialized and dignified spaces for court proceedings. The strength of the book lies in its visual images and in the anecdotal descriptions of physical spaces and rituals that McNamara culled from primary materials. The book contains what is likely to remain a definitive collection of photographs and drawings of the courthouses built in Massachusetts between the mid-seventeenth century and the mid-nineteenth century. The numerous anecdotes peppered throughout the book---often comments by major historical figures like Samuel Sewall and John Adams-provide a fascinating glimpse into how architecture and ritual were experienced by participants in the system
Colonial Courts and Secured Credit: Early American Commercial Litigation and Shays\u27 Rebellion
Reading Early Colonial Legal History as Bob Gordon\u27s Student
Commenting on Bob Gordon\u27s early work is a humbling experience that might compare to a composer commenting on early Beethoven or a painter on early Michelangelo. The eloquence of Gordon\u27s writing is unparalleled. It is an absolute delight to read and enjoy every turn of phrase. Gordon perfectly describes what others can only grasp at
Creating an American Property Law: Alienability and Its Limits in American History
This article analyzes an issue central to the economic and political development of the early United States: laws protecting real property from the claims of creditors. Traditional English law, protecting inheritance, shielded a debtor\u27s land from the reach of creditors in two respects. An individual\u27s freehold interest in land was exempted from the claims of unsecured creditors both during life and in inheritance proceedings. In addition, even when land had been explicitly pledged as collateral in mortgage agreements, chancery court procedures imposed substantial costs on creditors using legal process to seize the land. American property law, however, emerged in the context of colonialism and the dynamics of the Atlantic economy. In 1732, to advance the economic interests of English merchants, Parliament enacted a sweeping statute, the Act for the More Easy Recovery of Debts in His Majesty\u27s Plantations and Colonies in America, which required that real property, houses, and slaves be treated as legally equivalent to chattel property for the purpose of satisfying debts in all of the British colonies in America and the West Indies. This statute substantially dismantled the legal framework of the English inheritance system by giving unsecured creditors priority to a deceased\u27s land over heirs. The Act also required that the courts hold auctions to sell both slaves and real property to satisfy debts in most colonies. More broadly, this legal transformation likely led to greater commodification of real property, the expansion of slavery, and more capital for economic development. American landholders, however, were subjected to greater financial risk than would have been the case in the absence of the Act. The Act for the More Easy Recovery of Debts was reenacted by most, but not all, state legislatures in the founding era. One legacy of the colonial era was that, through the 1840s, most states exempted only minimal amounts of property from creditors\u27 claims. Tensions relating to creditors\u27 remedies, both between the states and the federal government and between states with differing policies, had important consequences for American federalism. The history of creditors\u27 claims to real property in the colonial and founding periods is important to understanding the emergence of an American property law, the economic development of the colonies and states, the expansion of slavery, and American federalism
Role of the heat shock transcription factor, Hsf1, in a major fungal pathogen that is obligately associated with warm-blooded animals
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