Due Process: Georgetown Law Library Blog

In 21st century America, we all know that New Year's Day is January 1st. But, did you know that this wasn't alway so?

From 1582 until 1751, England refused to adopt the 'new' Gregorian Calendar on the grounds that it was steeped in Roman Catholic 'superstitions' and not at all proper for a Protestant country. This resulted in almost two centuries of dual and/or contradictory dating of legal documents, governmental proclamations, newspapers, and other printed materials. Sometimes the document would follow the practice of every other European nation, including Protestant Scotland, and use January 1st as the start of each new year. Sometimes the document would follow the English practice of starting each official new year on March 25th. Sometimes the document would list both years for any date between January 1st and March 25th, as in 'January 1, 1700/01'. You can easily imagine the potential for confusion and complications this ongoing situation led to in England and its dominions and colonies.

The latest exhibit in the Williams Library Atrium illustrates this cultural anomaly of Early Modern English governance with facsimiles from books held by Georgetown Law Library's Special Collections.

This entry was posted on January 6, 2012 at 5:42 PM and has received 990 views. Print this entry.

It's that special time of year again! Yes, once again we hear the seasonal sounds of complaints about a 'War on Christmas' wafting through the blogosphere and cable news channels. Whatever one may think of this alleged suppression of all things Christmas, the current 'conflict' pales in contrast to the genuine banning of Christmas celebrations that took place in 16th and 17th century Britain and New England. The Real 'War on Christmas': 1581-1690 exhibit in the Williams Library Atrium displays facsimiles of several laws enacted during this period that outlawed the singing of carols, the holding of feasts and festivals, and other aspects of what we today cluster together under the seasonal rubric of holiday joy. These materials illuminate an easily overlooked chapter in the history of religious liberty, and give some valuable perspective to the current debate over the 'War on Christmas'.

This entry was posted on December 9, 2011 at 11:55 AM and has received 2525 views. Print this entry.

“… I am fighting for a human life. The life of a hated enemy but nevertheless a life,” wrote John G. Brannon on November 25, 1947 in a letter to his brother Bernard.  John Brannon had arrived in Tokyo, May 17^th, 1946, about five years after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  He was an American attorney from Kansas City, Missouri, appointed by MacArthur to defend Class A Japanese war criminal Osami Nagano, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, in his trial before the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. 

The Law Library’s Special Collections has recently acquired over 150 letters written by John Brannon to his brother over a period of 3 years (1946-1949), along with numerous photographs, manuscripts and two 16mm films (John G. Brannon Papers).  It is a collection teeming with fervent American patriotism, Truman politics and personal reflections of a transitional time in world history.  In his letters, Brannon discusses and describes:  Japanese culture, his defense strategies, the Tribunal, the Defense team, mounting U.S. tension with Russia, and the stigma attached to American attorneys defending the enemy after the war in the Pacific.  His writing is a vibrant personal view of the inner workings of, and politics behind, an important historic and international trial.   

The George Yamaoka Collection is also part of the Law Library’s Special Collections holdings.  George Yamaoka, a graduate of Georgetown Law class of 1928, was also one of the select group of American attorneys appointed by General MacArthur in 1945 to help in the defense of those Japanese accused of war crimes.  His collection contains Tribunal proceeding transcripts and a multitude of defense documents and exhibits from both the Prosecution and the Defense, among other interesting items.  Despite the circumstances, the Defense’s zeal and passion toward “the preservation of international justice” is a testament to past, present and future lawyers. (Brannon Papers, November 14, 1947) The John G. Brannon Papers and the George Yamaoka Collection are well worth a look.  They are open for research and finding aids are available online.

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For more information on the manuscript collections contact Special Collections at 202/661-6602, email  htm@law.georgetown.edu or online at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/special/manuscripts.cfm . 

This entry was posted on November 22, 2011 at 3:36 PM and has received 3687 views. Print this entry.

One of the truly delightful aspects of working with rare books is finding unique and sometimes suprising objects, inscriptions, and other miscellanies within them. The newest exhibit in the atrium display cases of the Williams Library location of Georgetown Law Library features a few such hidden treasures. Miscellanies Found in Blackstone's Commentaries includes a handwritten index to the first American edition of Blackstone's that included editorial notes and supplementary essays on, and case citations to, American law - Tucker's Blackstone published in 1803; a bookmark from the law bookstore frequented by Georgetown Law students in the early 1900s - John Byrne & Co.; and, a study outline list of Offenses against Public Justice written by Thomas A. Tighe of the Georgetown Law Class of 1914. Pictured here is Georgetown Law Library's copy of vol. 1 of the 1765 first edition of Blackstone's together with the original owner's inscription and bookplate found on the inside front cover.

This entry was posted on September 16, 2011 at 4:43 PM and has received 6915 views. Print this entry. Download attachment.

17^th century England was a nation beset by recurrent periods of political and legal turmoil. Disputes between Parliament, the Common Lawyers, and the Crown, which had begun to hinder the functions of government in the 1620s, developed into civil war by the mid-1640s and reverberated through the end of the century well into the next. Lawyers and printers often found themselves caught up in both sides of the struggle. A number of pamphlets and treatises were written to defend and promote the rightness of both causes. Authors and publishers risked being charged with disparaging the prerogative rights and powers of the Crown or Parliament. This often led to the production of multiple variant imprints of a single work, many of them unauthorized by either the government or the author.

Georgetown Law Library Special Collections holds several such controversial variant imprints. Images from two such works produced to support the opposing sides in the English Civil War are currently on display in the Special Collections Exhibit Case located outside the Special Collections Reading Room (Williams 210) off the west end of the main reading room in the Williams Library.

This entry was posted on August 26, 2011 at 6:47 PM and has received 7853 views. Print this entry.

Have you ever wondered how real estate transactions were made in times long past of lords and ladies, castles and jousts? What did a land sales contract or lease look like centuries before the development of standardized printed real estate forms? Then stop by one of the library's touch-screen kiosks or go to our online gallery and explore our latest digital exhibit - Medieval English Land Grants from Special Collections. The exhibit features several land transfer documents from the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) that are part of Georgetown Law Library's collections of rare and historical legal materials.

This entry was posted on June 18, 2011 at 9:53 AM and has received 11708 views. Print this entry.

1865 was the beginning of the Reconstruction Era of American History.  The Civil War had ended, President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated and President Andrew Johnson was trying to rebuild and unify America.  Washington, DC became the converging ground where parties debated numerous issues, such as:  voting rights, war crimes and building infrastructure.  An unusual participant in America’s political history during this time was Walt Whitman, who would later become well known for his poetry and less for the part he played in American politics.  

Whitman worked as a clerk in the Attorney General’s office from 1865-1873. The National Archives announced that it has recently discovered 3,000 documents relating to Whitman’s work in Washington, DC.  The documents were found by Kenneth M. Price, a professor of English and co-director of the Walt Whitman Archives.  The find illuminates not only this moment in American history, but what might have shaped the thoughts of Walt Whitman as well.

This entry was posted on May 23, 2011 at 3:59 PM and has received 14297 views. Print this entry.

The Georgetown Law Library has recently acquired the 1765, third edition of Samuel Johnson’s epic Dictionary of the English Language. First published in 1755, Johnson’s Dictionary was the first dictionary of English words, and remained one of the most important reference books in the Anglo-American world, until the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was published in 1884. Johnson explained when he first proposed his Dictionary of the English Language in 1746 that “the rules of style, like those of law, arise from precedents.” The legal terms he defined in his Dictionary relied heavily on such legal authorities as John Cowell’s The Interpreter, Matthew Hale’s History and Analysis of the Common Law of England, Francis Bacon’s Collected Works, and John Ayliffe’s Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani (Index guide to English canon law), among other authorities. Johnson's Dictionary became the dictionary of choice in colonial america in the 18th century. According to Johnson scholar John Stone, Noah Webster, America's first lexicographer, declared that it also played a part in the evolution of American constitutional law: "Legislators are much occupied with ascertaining 'first meanings', with trying to secure the literal sense of their predecessors' legislation ... To understand a law, you need to understand what its terminology meant to its original architects." Thomas Jefferson owned the later 1773 fourth edition of Johnson's Dictionary, and many of the framers of the U.S. Constitution also owned variant editions of the epic work. 

For more information on this 1765 edition of Johnson's Dictionary, its history and importance in U.S. constitutional history, and for a chance to use it, please contact the Head of Special Collections, Laura Bedard at bedard@law.georgetown.edu, or stop by the Special Collections Department, on the west side of the Oakley Reading Room, in the Williams Library.
 

This entry was posted on April 24, 2011 at 9:30 PM and has received 18065 views. Print this entry.

Available in Special Collections is the George W. Peterson Papers. This collection of class notes and course materials comes from the note pad of George W. Peterson (L’ 1942).  His notes detail classes such as Civil Procedure, Common Law Actions, Equity and Real Property II from before WWII.  His was a time without computers, a time when note taking captured the essence of legal learning.  George Peterson’s collection opens a unique window into the 1940s student experience at Georgetown Law.  To learn more about this collection, please see the George W. Peterson Papers web page.  You can also come by Special Collections (Williams Library, 2nd Floor, Room 210) to view the collection in person.

This entry was posted on April 12, 2011 at 10:22 AM and has received 17937 views. Print this entry.

Newly opened and ready for viewing is the McLaughlin Brothers Manuscript Collection. The collection is composed of personal letters, written by brothers William Law McLaughlin (C' 1882, L'1884) and Daniel Joseph McLaughlin (C' 1888) during their studies at Georgetown Law in the late 1800s. The Collection is a unique look at student life at Georgetown. After law school both brothers went on to practice law in Deadwood, South Dakota. To learn more about this unique collection, please see the McLaughlin Brothers Collection page. You can also stop by Special Collections to request to view the collection in person.

This entry was posted on March 11, 2011 at 3:13 PM and has received 17842 views. Print this entry.