Keyword Search
Search
(Acrobat Reader Required)

Recent Postings

Douglas A. Hedin: "Rotation in Office" and the Territorial Supreme Court. (2010)
James Manahan: "Trials of a Lawyer." (1933).


Article Categories

Education (3)
19th Century Courts (13)
20th Century Courts (0)
Annual Reports (2)
Bar Admission & Discipline (3)
Bar Associations (9)
Bibliographies (0)
Book Reviews (4)
Civil Liberties (0)
Constitution (3)
Corporations (1)
Correspondence (0)
County Bench & Bar (40)
County Seat Contests (1)
Court Procedures (5)
Courthouses, Jails & Prisons (10)
Criminal Law & Crime (11)
Family Relations (0)
Federal Court (4)
Humor (5)
Judges (10)
Judicial Elections (2)
Labor Relations (1)
Land Settlement (6)
Law Firm Histories (2)
Lawyers (13)
Legislation (6)
Libraries (1)
Literature (1)
Manahan, James (1)
Memoirs/Biographies (0)
Mitchell, Wm. (3)
Natural Resources (1)
Obituaries/Memorials (39)
Oral Histories (0)
Railroads (0)
Supreme Court (7)
Territorial Bench & Bar (23)
Trials (3)
Tribal Law & Treaties (0)


Viewing Court Procedures Category (5) found:


"Jury Sequestration in 1850."

On September 12, 1849, Isaiah McMillan shot and killed Heman Snow in St. Paul. McMillan was tried in Stillwater in February, 1850, and found guilty of manslaughter. During the trial, Judge David Cooper ordered the jury sequestered, which provoked a colorful commentary by James Goodhue in "The Minnesota Pioneer" on February 27, 1850.

View Article


Charles C. Willson: "Citations." (1894)

In December, 1894, "The Minnesota Law Journal" published a long letter to the editor from Charles C. Willson, the official reporter of the Minnesota Reports. Willson was "vexed" and exasperated by the "loose" pleading habits and citation practices of the bar. In his letter, Willson advised lawyers to give the full names of the parties in their pleadings and cite authorities in a way that they can be found by the court and used by other practitioners.

View Article


Douglas A. Hedin: "Advisory Opinions of the Territorial Supreme Court, 1852-1854." (2009)

During Minnesota's territorial period, and for several years after statehood, a law authorizing the legislature to request advisory opinions from the supreme court was in effect. It provided:

"Either house may, by resolution, request the opinion of the supreme court, or any one or more of the judges thereof upon a given subject, and it shall be the duty of such court or judges when so requested, respectively, to give such opinion in writing."

In response to resolutions of the House and Council seeking advice, individual territorial justices issued six opinions between 1852 and 1854. One justice refused, while three others issued a total of five opinions. After statehood, the court declined three times, finally declaring the advisory opinion law unconstitutional in 1865.

The supreme court's advisory opinions of are posted in this article.

NOTE TO VIEWERS: BECAUSE OF THE LENGTH OF THIS ARTICLE, IT MAY TAKE AS LONG AS 30 SECONDS FOR IT TO APPEAR ON YOUR SCREEN.

View Article


Charles E. Flandrau: "Contempt of Court." (1895)

Reacting to criticism of the judiciary in the wake of the Pullman Strike, Charles E. Flandrau published this brief essay on the importance of maintaining the courts' contempt power in the January, 1895, issue of "The Minnesota Law Journal."

View Article


"Memoranda" (1893).

This article provides a glimpse of how some trial judges operated in the state in the 1890s. The author urged trial judges to prepare and attach memoranda to their orders, explaining their reasoning. Without such a written explanation, the author laments, "Half the time the defeated party does not know and has no means, save asking the judge, of obtaining any knowledge as to which of several points raised and argued on the hearing, was decisive against him."

This article appeared first in the July 1893, issue of the "Minnesota Law Journal."

View Article