Legal History

Skeleton in Closet After 1821 Execution Is Buried by Family Descendant

It emphatically wasn’t what his parents wanted. But instead of being buried the body of 18-year-old John Horwood was dissected after his 1821 execution for an almost accidental murder of a former girlfriend. The autopsy was done by Richard Smith, the chief surgeon of Bristol Royal Infirmary in Great Britain,…

Apr 14, 2011 5:00 PM CDT

Law Grad Agrees Not to Auction Sirhan Papers After RFK Killer’s Counsel Argues Parole Issue

A law school graduate has agreed not to auction papers he obtained from convicted Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan after the inmate’s lawyer said they could be critical to his client’s parole effort and threatened to sue to prevent the sale. Would-be seller Michael McCowan is now a 78-year-old…

Apr 13, 2011 11:58 AM CDT

Handwritten Papers from Walt Whitman, Former US Attorney Clerk, Released

The National Archives today revealed Civil War records handwritten by noted author Walt Whitman, while he worked as a clerk for the U.S. Attorney General. According to the Associated Press, in the years immediately after the war, Whitman wrote letters and speeches for the attorney general. Whitman got the job…

Apr 12, 2011 8:32 PM CDT

SD Judge Faces Potential Removal Over Alleged Rude and Racist Remarks and Use of the ‘Bird’

For the first time in its 121-year history, the top court of South Dakota is to hold a hearing later this month to decide whether to remove a sitting judge from the bench. The Judicial Qualifications Commission contends that Judge A.P. “Pete” Fuller of the state’s 7th Circuit was rude…

Apr 11, 2011 12:49 PM CDT

ID’d in Cold Case DNA Project, Man, 74, Pleads Guilty in 7 Murders, Suspected in Up to 23 More

Billed as one of the most prolific serial killers in Southern California, a soft-spoken former insurance adjuster has pleaded guilty today in seven sex-related strangulation slayings of older women in Los Angeles county. He is suspected in as many as 23 more similar murders, which took place in two waves…

Apr 1, 2011 7:54 PM CDT

An Inescapable Conflict

The Civil War ended slavery and saved the Union, but many of its battles are still being fought

Apr 1, 2011 9:36 AM CDT

Lincoln and Davis: A Friendship That Made History

After serving a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of the Whig Party, Abraham Lincoln returned to Springfield, Ill., in the spring of 1849 and resumed his law practice. Lincoln was away from home for long stretches, as he joined other members of the bar…

Apr 1, 2011 9:35 AM CDT

Secession: How the South Nearly Won

The issue at the heart of the Civil War always was slavery. But at the start of the conflict, neither side was ready to acknowledge that reality. In the 11 Southern states that left the Union between December 1860 and June 1861, leaders talked vaguely about the need to preserve…

Apr 1, 2011 9:34 AM CDT

Lincoln’s War Powers: Part Constitution, Part Trust

Abraham Lincoln’s presidency was in crisis from the very start. By the time he was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven Southern states already had seceded. And with the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., on April 12, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln faced a rebellion “too powerful to be…

Apr 1, 2011 9:33 AM CDT

The Dawn of a Republican Court: Lincoln’s Justices

The Civil War marks a turning point in U.S. Supreme Court history. During that time, the bench became far more assertive, both judicially and politically. In just two years, between 1862 and 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed five new justices—Noah Swayne, Samuel Miller, David Davis, Stephen Field and Salmon Chase.…

Apr 1, 2011 9:32 AM CDT

The End of War and Slavery Yields a New Racial Order

As the United States lurched into civil war during the winter and spring of 1860-61, the primary cause of the crisis was clearly on the minds of political leaders. While many today think of the Civil War as a dispute over states’ rights, most Americans at the time understood that…

Apr 1, 2011 9:31 AM CDT

The Conspirators: Tried by Military Commission

From May 12 until June 29, 1865, a military commission sitting in Washington City (as Washington, D.C., was then known) heard evidence against seven men and one woman. All were charged with conspiring to murder President Abraham Lincoln. All were found guilty. Four were sentenced to hang (and were executed…

Apr 1, 2011 9:30 AM CDT

Legal Road Trip: Seattle

The legal sites of the Emerald City

Apr 1, 2011 8:00 AM CDT

April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Assassinated

On March 28, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Memphis to lead a march in support of 1,300 striking sanitation workers. But the protest was quickly aborted after several youths broke ranks and smashed storefront windows along Beale Street. By nightfall, 4,000 National Guardsmen had been called in to…

Apr 1, 2011 5:00 AM CDT

Blog Chronicles ‘BigLaw Dead Pool’

Remember Finley Kumble? It collapsed in 1987, long before the more recent dissolutions of firms such as Heller Ehrman, Thelen and now Howrey. The blog Law Shucks hasn’t forgotten. It has put together a list of failed firms and linked to articles on their demise. The articles contain some interesting…

Mar 10, 2011 4:43 PM CST