Legal Records: Case Introductions
Purchase:
Legal Records: Case Introductions, published as an e-book in April 2024, contextualizes Joseph Smith’s interactions with the law as a plaintiff/complainant, defendant, witness, or judge in approximately two hundred cases between 1819 and 1844. It also offers helpful analyses of the trial of his accused assassins and of the disposition of his estate. This volume is a compilation of introductions and other explanatory materials previously published on the Joseph Smith Papers website.
Volume Editors
David W. Grua, Jeffrey D. Mahas, and Elizabeth A. Kuehn are historians for the Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sharalyn D. Howcroft is an archivist for the Church History Department, and Chad O. Foulger is a retired employee of the Church History Department.
Additional Content
About This Volume
Joseph Smith was not a lawyer, but he was no stranger to the courtroom. As a plaintiff/complainant, defendant, witness, and judge, he participated in approximately two hundred cases between 1819 and 1844 in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa Territory, and Illinois, with litigation continuing against his estate following his death. The Legal Records series of the Joseph Smith Papers has published brief introductions at josephsmithpapers.org that provide necessary historical and legal context on these cases. This e-book brings together the introductions, organized by state, into a one-volume study aid. It includes as appendices four finding aids previously published on the website, introducing Smith’s criminal and civil proceedings, his role as a judge, and the complicated relationship between the Nauvoo Municipal Court and the writ of habeas corpus. High-resolution images and transcriptions of all available documents from the legal cases involving Smith—gathered from courthouses, repositories, and private collections across the United States—have been published on the project website; images of a few representative documents, as well as key people and places, are included here.
This e-book will be particularly useful for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints studying the life of Joseph Smith. His legal papers provide an illuminating window into various aspects of his financial endeavors in building Zion, his interactions with his antagonists, and his efforts to administer the law fairly as a judge in Nauvoo, Illinois. In addition, legal encounters shaped some of his most significant religious teachings and revelations, such as his letters written to the church while imprisoned in Missouri in 1838–1839 and while he was in hiding to avoid extradition in 1842. Excerpts of these letters were later canonized as part of Latter-day Saint scripture. Understanding the context in which the letters were composed can enhance their study. This volume will also benefit researchers interested in nineteenth-century legal and religious history in the United States. Although the legal papers of prominent attorneys such as Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton have been published in documentary editions, Joseph Smith’s legal corpus represents a rare view of a nonattorney’s interactions with the American legal system.