Viewing Territorial Bench & Bar Category (34) found: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:
Gov. Ramsey's Proclamation Setting Judicial Districts. (1849)On June 11, 1849, Governor Alexander Ramsey issued a proclamation setting the geographic boundaries of the three judicial districts in the territory. He assigned Chief Justice Aaron Goodrich to the First District, Associate Justice Bradley Meeker to the second, and David Cooper to the third. He also set the dates of the first two terms of each district court. Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART ONE (Introduction). (2009-2010)Part ONE is an introduction to Parts TWO and THREE. Here previous accounts of the terms of the members of territorial supreme court are traced and discussed. The 1870 "Minnesota Legislative Manual" listed many erroneous or incomplete dates of the terms of the justices who served on that court. These errors were copied in subsequent editions of that book and republished in one popular history after another from 1881 to the present day.
Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART TWO-A. (Justices Goodrich and Cooper) (2009-2010).The process of becoming a justice on the territorial supreme court had four steps: 1) be nominated by the President or receive a recess appointment by him; 2) if nominated, be confirmed by the U. S. Senate; 3) receive a commission from the President, and accept it; and 4) take the oath of office in Minnesota Territory.
Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART TWO-B. (Justice Meeker) (2009-2010).The process of becoming a justice on the territorial supreme court had four steps: 1) be nominated by the President or receive a recess appointment by him; 2) if nominated, be confirmed by the U. S. Senate; 3) receive a commission from the President, and accept it; and 4) take the oath of office in Minnesota Territory.
Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART TWO-C. (Chief Justices Fuller and Hayner) (2009-2010).The process of becoming a justice on the territorial supreme court had four steps: 1) be nominated by the President or receive a recess appointment by him; 2) if nominated, be confirmed by the U. S. Senate; 3) receive a commission from the President, and accept it; and 4) take the oath of office in Minnesota Territory.
Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART TWO-D. (Justices Welch and Chatfield) (2009-2010).PART TWO-D covers Chief Justice William H. Welch and Associate Justice Andrew G. Chatfield. Both men were commissioned by President Pierce on April 6, 1853. Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART TWO-E. (Justices Sherburne and Nelson) (2009-2010).PART TWO-E covers Associate Justices Moses Sherburne and Rensselaer R. Nelson. Justice Sherburne was commissioned by President Pierce on April 6, 1853. Justice Nelson received a recess appointment from President Buchanan on April 21, 1857. Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART TWO-F. (John Pettit and Justice Flandrau) (2009-2010).PART TWO-F covers Associate Justice Charles E. Flandrau, who received a recess appointment by President Buchanan on July 17, 1857.
Douglas A. Hedin: Documents regarding the terms of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858: PART THREE. (Salary legislation, opinions of the U. S. Attorney General, and Meeker's Manifesto (2009-2010)To encourage judges to remain at their posts, Congress enacted legislation in 1851-1853 that barred payment of salaries to judges who were absent from the territory for longer than sixty days. Legislation on the salaries of absentee judges is posted in this Part.
Douglas A. Hedin: "Rotation in Office" and the Territorial Supreme Court. (2010)Each of the four presidents who served during Minnesota's territorial period, March 1849 to May 1858, implemented a system of appointments known as "rotation in office." Under rotation, a newly-elected president replaced incumbents, placed there by his predecessor, with his own appointees, who were members of his political party. The result was a high turnover among federal officeholders.
Douglas A. Hedin: "Lawyers and 'Booster Literature' in the Early Territorial Period." (2008).On June 21, 1851, the "St. Anthony Express" published an editorial, "Who are Wanted in Minnesota," in which it promoted the Territory of Minnesota and described the types of settlers who were wanted there--farmers, mechanics, ministers, young ladies, and lawyers.
Douglas A. Hedin: "Holcombe vs. McKusick" and the U. S. Supreme Court's Reaction to the Codification Movement of the 1850s. (2011)On May 18, 1858, the United States Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Samuel Nelson, dismissed Holcombe vs. McKusick, an appeal from the Supreme Court of Minnesota Territory, because it lacked jurisdiction. The opinion is noteworthy because Nelson concluded with a tirade against the "complicated and confused" mode of pleading in the territory which he attributed to its "absurd and impractical experiment" in codifying rules of pleading.
Aaron Goodrich: "Early Courts of Minnesota" (1851), with recollections of Goodrich by William P. Murray, Edward Sullivan, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Carl Schurz, and Thomas M. Newson.On March 4, 1851, Chief Justice Aaron Goodrich wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society describing the organization of the courts after the formation of the territory two years earlier. The first several paragraphs are vintage Goodrichese.
"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. "Livingston's Law Register" (1851)The 1851 edition of "Livingston's Law Register" listed 24 lawyers and one law firm practicing in Minnesota Territory. 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.
George E. Warner & Charles M. Foote, "The Territorial Courts and Bar of Hennepin County" (1881).This short article about lawyers and courts in Hennepin County in the 1850s was included in a county history published in 1881. The authors repeat humorous anecdotes, list lawyers and judges and, unexpectedly, make acute observations about the bar that make reading it worthwhile Edward D. Neill: "The Territorial Court in Houston County." (1882)On the docket of the first session of the Territorial Court held in Caledonia on August 20, 1855, there were three criminal cases, including two for perjury in making land claims. Chief Justice William Welch presided. At the second, held on June 23, 1856, there were four cases. The first petition for citizenship, by Michael Burke, was granted. Judge Welsh failed to appear at the next term, scheduled for October 20, 1856, and it was adjourned by the sheriff. At the next session, the Chief Justice appeared, and by that time "it seems that quite a respectable docket had accumulated." This is an excerpt from a history of Houston County published in 1882. Charles E. Flandrau: "Lawyers and Courts of Minnesota Prior to and During its Territorial Period." (1897)In January 1896, Charles E. Flandrau gave a nostalgic speech to the annual meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society in which he told stories and reminisced about lawyers and judges of the 1850s-a period he called "those light-hearted days." In March 1897, the monthly "Minnesota Law Journal" published Flandrau's address.
First Court Session in Hennepin County (1853).On April 4, 1853, Judge Bradley B. Meeker presided over the first district court session in Hennepin County, which had been formed a year earlier. The St. Anthony Express ran an account of it four days later.
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. Oscar F. Perkins: "Law Being at a Discount." (1882)Oscar F. Perkins, a twenty-five year old lawyer, migrated from Vermont to Minnesota in 1854. He settled in Faribault the next year. In a talk to an old settlers association in 1875, he described his experiences as a lawyer, farmer and preacher in 1854 and 1855. His recollections appeared first in a history of Rice County published in 1882. "Judicial History of Rice and Steele Counties During the Territorial Period." (1910)A chapter in a joint history of Rice and Steele Counties published in 1910 describes court sessions in those counties during Minnesota's territorial period, 1849-1858. Frank G. O'Brien: "Pioneer Attorneys and Jurymen." (1904)This is a chapter of names of lawyers and members of an early grand and petit jury who served, presumably, in Minneapolis, where the author, a journalist, lived. It appeared in a book of reminiscences published in 1904. Patrick Cudmore: "Territorial Bar." (1897)In 1897, Patrick Cudmore, a practicing lawyer and prolific author, wrote a short article in which he recalled lawyers who had practiced in Rice, Steele and Waseca Counties during the previous four decades. Most, it seems, he knew personally. His article was published in "The Faribault Republican" on September 15, 1897. 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.
Daniel H. Dustin - U. S. Attorney (1854).Daniel Dustin served as United States Attorney for Minnesota Territory in 1853-1854. Little is know about his background, other than that he was a native New Yorker. In early July 1854, he suddenly died. The Daily Pioneer newspaper published his obituary, a tribute from a local fraternal society, and resolutions drafted and adopted by about a half dozen lawyers who met in the chambers of Justice Moses Sherburne. This appears to be the first bar memorial in Minnesota. Thomas Jackson -- St. Paul's First Justice of the Peace. (2012)Thomas Jackson (1811-1857) arrived in St. Paul in 1842; the next year he was appointed the city's first justice of the peace, and the year following became the first postmaster. A successful merchant, he was a fount of facts and opinions that impressed frontiersmen.
J. Fletcher Williams: "Memoir of Judge Andrew G. Chatfield." (1870s)Andrew G. Chatfield served as associate justice on the territorial supreme court from 1853 to 1857. After Chatfield's death on October 3, 1875, J. Fletcher Williams, who was a journalist and later secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, wrote a "memoir" of him. It was published by "The Chatfield News" on March 13, 1947. J. Fletcher Williams: "Memoir of Judge David Cooper." (1870s)David Cooper served as associate justice on the territorial supreme court from 1849 to 1853. Sometime after Cooper's death "during the early part of 1876," J. Fletcher Williams, a newspaper reporter, editor and later secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, wrote a short "memoir" of him. It does not appear to have been published previously. J. Fletcher Williams: "Memoir of Judge B. B. Meeker." (1870s)Bradley B. Meeker served as associate justice on the territorial supreme court from 1849 to 1853. Sometime after Meeker died on February 19, 1873, J. Fletcher Williams, an early newspaper reporter, editor and later secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, wrote a short "memoir" of him. It does not appear to have been published previously. Bradley B. Meeker (1813- 1873).Bradley B. Meeker served on the Territorial Supreme Court from 1849 to 1853. He died on February 19, 1873, at age sixty. His obituary was published in Minnesota newspapers. On April 16, 1873, a committee of the bar delivered a memorial to him in the Minnesota Supreme Court. U. S. Territorial Maps: 1775 - 1920.These are maps of the states and territories of the United States from 1775 to 1920.
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