Records of Genealogical Value

in a Law Library

The picture to the left is the University of Michgan Law Library, where I've happily worked for over thirty years. The University of Michigan Law Library is one of the top law libraries in the country, so much of what I've learned working there will apply to large, academic libraries or state law libraries. Small practitioner oriented libraries are not likely to have much of the historical material I describe below.

Web site of the University of Michigan Law Library
University of Michigan Law Library Catalog

Biography * Statutes * Trials and Court Decisions * Treatises * Reference *

Biography

• Alumni and Faculty : information about alumni and faculty may be housed at the Universtity or the law school library or archives.
  
  The University of Michigan Law School offers a History and Traditions section that is well worth exploring if your ancestor attended or taught at the law school. See especially the pages dedicated faculty and students, where you will first check the alphabetical list to find the year of graduation, then go the class lists to get more information about the student (use the dropdown to select the year) We are in the process of adding biographical informaiton, so keep coming back -- and if you have information to offer, send it on to us!
  
  The Bently Historical Library, which serves as the campus archives, also has material related to the Law School, including Historical and Class files, which will give you information about indivdiuals and events.
  
  Other examples:
  Georgetown Law School provides a genealogical research service.
  Genealogical and Historical Research at the Maryland State Law Library (this is unusual)
  Washington County [Pennsylvania] Law Library assists genealogists.
  
  
• Bench and Bar Some biographical works limit coverage to the legal profession. Sometimes they have the word "Bench and Bar" in the title, but not always. Some of these have been scanned by Google and are available at Google Books. Examples
  Bench and Bar of New York
  Bench and Bar of Wisconsin
  Bench and Bar of Litchfield County Connecticut
  Recollections of the Berrien Co. Bar
  Memoirs of the judiciary of the bar of New England
  Review of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York
  
  To search a library catalog, try searching with subject key words lawyers biography or lawyers [name of state], eg lawyers michigan. It can be tricky to find these.

Statutes There are two types of statutes of interest to the genealogist.

• General Acts.... concerning the whole jurisdiction, e.g. laws about divorce, immigration, debt, inheritance, land transfer.
• Special and Local acts ... concerning a single instance, named people or specific only to a portion of the locality, e.g. early name changes and divorces, authorizations to build something, formation of a specific township or village.

U.S.Statutes at Large (includes private laws)
Henings Statutes at Large (early Virginia statutes)
Public and Special Acts Connecticut (see the index to private & special acts)

an example of using statutes to learn about guardianship law in New Mexico

Trials and Court Decisions

Trial level: It is unlikely that anything is published. If you are lucky beyond belief, you may find:

• broadsides (contemporaneous with the trial); examples
  • Trial of Joshua Bradley
  • The Great Divorce Case -- also available at Harvard's site
• newspaper accounts -- contemporaneous
• published transcripts or other records-- ususally contemporaneous
• court reports from a trial level court, usually from the nineteenth centry; usually self published by the reporter. Very uncommon. Examples of a few that exist include:
• publishe books that recount the trial -- usually years later, based on research; examples
• Fall River Outrage

Chancery or Equity Cases: various courts might be designated to hear chancery or equity cases, which often involved personal matters, not clearly covered by law. Judgement was based on fairness rather than a strict rule of law. Chancery cases might include divorces, debts, estate matters, disputes between neighbors and other matters not appropriate to the strict rule of law, or for which there was no applicable law. For examples, see:

Library of Virginia (database index of over 190,000 cases): Each of Virginia's circuit courts created chancery records that contain considerable historical and genealogical information. Because the records rely so heavily on testimony from witnesses, they offer a unique glimpse into the lives of Virginians from the early 18th century through the First World War.

Some chancery records have been indexed online, but for the most part you will have to track down the court records in the area you are searching. Some records have been published, but published chancery decisions often present few facts and little testimony; it is preferrable to see if the original records are still exant.

Appeals level: Very, very few cases are appealed, but when a case is appealed to a court of record, the decision of that court is published (not a transcript) as a court report. Appeals are based on points of law and the litigants do not go to court. The lawyers submit briefs and may take testimony or include other documents that are submitted to the court.

• Decisions: are published in reporter volumes
  • How to read a case citation
    • examples of nominatives
    • How do I find nominatives in the UMich Law Library catalog?
  • Example of a reporter: Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of New York
• Digests
• Records and Briefs:
• Records and Briefs in the New York State Library
• Minnesota State Law Library Records and Briefs Collection
• Wisconsin Briefs Finding Guide
  

Treatises

Books that help you understand the laws, especially historically. Examples

• The Road to Reno: A History of Divorce in America
• The Great Catastrophe of My Life: Divorce in the Old Dominion
• Neighbors and Strangers: Law and Community in Early Connecticut
• Southern Slavery and the Law
• Women and the Law of Property in Early America

Reference Books

Blacks Law Dictionary