Jamiacan Reporter - legal cases 1774-1787

The Harvard Law School Library has recently digitized its copy of Notes of cases adjudged in Jamaica, May 1774 to Dec. 1787 (Edinburgh : Printed by Adam Neill and company, 1794). The Harvard Law School Library purchased this folio volume of 18th century law reports in 1903; it is one of only a few known copies.

These reports of high court cases are based on “the very full notes of every case that came before” John Grant, a native of Inverness-shire (Scotland), and chief justice of Jamaica’s Supreme Court from 1783-1790. Colleagues had encouraged Grant to publish his notes for their use at court, and after retiring to Edinburgh, Grant began to revise his notebook with that goal in mind. Grant died on March 29, 1793, leaving three quarters of his notes unprinted. The task was picked up and continued by friends and colleagues who saw the work through the press; the volume was published in 1794. It is rich in bibliographical references and footnotes and in this copy, an early (and unknown) reader has made occasional marginal annotations.

Among cases included are a number concerned with inheritance and wills, and the volume is a useful source of both legal and social history.

More details are available at:

http://etseq.law.harvard.edu/index.php/site/852_rare_18th_century_jamaican_reporter_digitized/

And the digital copy is at:

http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/16705680

In Search of the Sources: Canadian Legal History in British Collections

In Search of the Sources: Canadian Legal History in British Collections



Canada House, London, 24th June 2010, 14:00 - 17:00

The historical development of Canada, from colonies to nation, means that many of its most important early historical sources reside in British repositories. An examination, or in some cases a re-examination, of these materials is essential to a proper understanding of the Canadian past. It is evident, however, that in many important areas, Canadian writers have not had access to, or known of, these essential source materials, scattered as they are across the collections of a number of institutions of which the relevance is not always obvious. The seminar will bring together archivists and researchers to identify and explore these hidden sources, to evaluate how they relate to each other, their uses in research, and the methodological issues arising from their use. It aims to promote and enhance the use of Canadian sources of legal history in British Collections and to build links between interested archivists and researchers.

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS INCLUDE:

The Bentham Project, the British Library, the National Archives, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library

For further information or to register please contact

Dr. Charlotte Smith at c.l.smith@rdg.ac.uk