1899-2-0

Notebook

Ephraim Kirby

Small Acquisitions

Litchfield Historical Society

The Ephraim Kirby Legal Notes collection is a bound volume containing notes and reports made by Ephraim Kirby when he was a law reporter. The notes and reports found in this volume were used to create the first published collection of law reports in the United States. The creation of the law reports was started to begin to differentiate United States common law from England’s common law. The cases found in this bound volume can be found in the published version, but the published version does not follow the order of the volume found in our collection. . . . [read more]Edits can be found in the volume; so it appears that this volume is a rough draft of the published collection. The cases covered are from all of Connecticut (not just Litchfield County) ranging from Litchfield County to New London ...County. Most of the cases involve tort law or wills. Each entry briefly describes what the case is about and introduces the plaintiff and defendant. Usually, then, the major arguments provided by each side are presented followed by a description of the jury’s decision, providing what the jury deciding and their reasoning. Sometimes there are quotes from the cases. For example on page 165 there is a lengthy quote from Judge Roger Sherman from a case in New London County in 1786. On the inside of the front cover there is a note written by the donor Harriet ver Planck which gives a brief description of the book as well as mentioning that ver Planck is Ephraim Kirby's great-granddaughter.
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