Viewing 19th Century Courts Category (13) found:Frank G. O'Brien: "A Pioneer Justice Court." (1904)"Justice Court"--that is, the court of a justice of the peace--was a source of entertainment for early settlers. County histories often refer to amusing incidents in justice court. The following story appears in a collection of reminiscences of Frank G. O'Brien, a Minneapolis journalist, published in 1904. "Justice Courts, 'As They Is Run.' " (1893)Trials before justices of the peace resolved many minor disputes. However, because the justices usually lacked legal training, justice court was sometimes a place of entertainment for members of the community. These courts were also a rich source of anecdotes told and retold by members of the bar. The following story appeared in the September, 1893, issue of "The Minnesota Law Journal." "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. Darwin S. Hall: "The First Lawsuit in Birch Cooley Township." (1916)The first trial in Birch Cooley Township in Renville County was held in 1868 in the small house of Willard Drury, Justice of the Peace. John Tracy was prosecuted for cruelty to his neighbor's cattle when they strayed over the property line onto his land. He was tried before a conscientious six man jury, which rendered its verdict: guilty but not guilty. This story, told by Darwin S. Hall, appeared first in a history of Renville County published in 1916. Consul Willshire Butterfield: "Bench and Bar of Duluth." (1889) According to Judge Ozora P. Stearns, holding court in the Eleventh Judicial District as late as the 1870s was a makeshift affair, resulting in "a rough kind of justice." There were no courthouses. Lawyers and judges had few law books, and there was not a complete set of the Minnesota Reports "west of Duluth." Lawyers in his district did not "know enough to take an appeal" to the state supreme court. These are a few of the reminiscences of Judge Stearns which were recorded by Consul Willshire Butterfield, author of this article.
Charles E. Flandrau: "Judge Isaac Atwater." (1888)Isaac Atwater arrived in Minnesota in 1850, at the age of 32, and died here in 1906. He served on the first supreme court following statehood. He was elected in 1857, and served from 1858 to mid-1864, when he resigned.
Charles E. Flandrau: "The Judge." (1895)At the height of the populist revolt in the 1890s, when the judiciary was under siege, Charles E. Flandrau published this brief essay on how judges should be selected. It appeared in the May, 1895, issue of "The Minnesota Law Journal." Parker McCobb Reed: "Charles Dunn." (1882)From July 1836 to October 1848, Charles Dunn served as Chief Justice of Wisconsin Territory, which included Minnesota. In June 1847, he held court in Stillwater, and presided over the first jury trial in the future state.
Lucius F. Hubbard & Return I. Holcombe: "Judicial System." (1908)This article is an important resource because it lists the names and years of service of all men who served on the supreme court from statehood to the early twentieth century, the clerks and reporters of the supreme court, and the judges of the nineteen judicial districts. It appeared as a chapter in a multi-volume history of Minnesota which was edited by Lucius F. Hubbard and Rerturn I. Holcombe, and published in 1908. Loren Warren Collins: "An Incomplete History of the Establishment of Courts in Minnesota." (1912)The author of this paper was Loren Warren Collins, who served as associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1887 to 1904. He died before he could finish it. It was to be a longer, written version of a speech he gave in 1911 to the Hennepin County Bar Association on the history of the bench and bar in Minnesota. His son, Louis L. Collins, gave a draft of the paper containing his father's handwritten additions and corrections to the Minnesota Historical Society on January 9, 1913.
"Judge Chatfield's First Court Session in Winona County." (1884)This article describes Judge Andrew Chatfield's first court session on June 28, 1853, in Winona. It appeared first in a history of Wabasha and Winona Counties published in 1884. DeWitt Clinton Cooley: "The High Old Court of Impeachment." (1878)After Judge Sherman Page's impeachment trial concluded with his acquittal in June, 1878, DeWitt Clinton Cooley, a prominent St. Paul lawyer, published a three-act play about the proceedings. It was a wicked farce. Cooley lampooned the state senate, which had styled itself "The High Court of Impeachment," Page's accusers and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, among others. The play was published as a pamphlet. It had several pages of advertising which suggests that it was offered for sale. It does not appear to have ever been produced and Cooley probably never intended it to be. Cooley was St. Paul's first city attorney, and Ramsey County's second county attorney. 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." |