Source: http://www.masshist.org/publications/apde2/view?id=LJA01d002
Timestamp: 2015-08-29 03:06:11
Document Index: 108902144

Matched Legal Cases: ['§2', '§38', '§4', '§2', '§2', '§2', '§2', '§2', '§5', '§3']

Legal Papers. { xxxii } The order, if any, in which Adams retained his papers has not survived. Such rationality
and clients. At the start of his career, Adams kept notes of worthwhile points { xxxiii } in a commonplace book; later he maintained a collection of noteworthy pleadings. Both
prior to the commencement of { xxxiv } any given term, wrote down in consecutive order, with space between each case, the
the editors have drawn on the following: Cushing Reports, a collection in the Harvard Law School Library { xxxv } of copies of notes in a hand which has not been identified, originally compiled by
of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Wetmore Notes, a collection in four volumes, of Essex County cases in the hand of William Wetmore
own almost indecipherable courtroom minutes.6 The Adams Papers, the chronologically arranged general correspondence and other materials beyond those
a different alphabetical designation. Since the Adams Legal Papers are primarily case-oriented, the { xxxvi } documents published under each topical subdivision (again excepting the first two
the law so that a layman could understand what he { xxxvii } was reading; but this is, after all, a casebook, and explication of every legalism
may find some of their occasional discomfort dispelled by resort to a good legal dictionary. The editors have followed the general textual policy laid down for The Adams Papers as a whole.8 (The reader should particularly note the arbitrary italicization of speakers' names,
justified the assigned date in the annotation. Occasionally, Adams' habit of taking down his courtroom minutes { xxxviii } on anything handy has rendered the dating of the given document nothing more than
and correspondence published in Series I and II of The Adams Papers. Because it would have been possible fairly to justify the inclusion or omission of
present edition is only a spadeful. { xxxix } At the bottom of the judicial pyramid came the individual courts of the justices of
the peace, with the appeal apparently entailing a new trial, by jury.14 And appeals lay from the Sessions to the Superior Court of Judicature.15 { xl } Administratively, the various Courts of General Sessions served their counties as
“an attested { xli } copy of the Rules of Court that were made at July Term for the Regulation of Practice.”22 At the head of the judicial system came the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of
to have.”27 The court possessed original jurisdiction only over matters involving the crown.28 { xlii } Under its appellate jurisdiction, the appellant could claim an entire new trial in
a county were tried at the court's sitting { xliii } in that county, but points of law could be, and frequently were, argued at sittings
the bond to the actual amount of his loss.38 In one case, a petition was made to the General Court for relief from a mistake.39 The common-law jurisdiction of the justice courts and of the In• { xliv } ferior and Superior Courts was supplemented by other specialized tribunals. Wills
copies of papers from the Inferior Court, { xlv } and documents newly introduced in the Superior Court itself. A typical file contains
argument by counsel. Another kind of legal question could be raised by a plea in abatement, which attacked the technical sufficiency of the writ without reference to the merits. { xlvi } Ordinarily the pleadings in the Inferior Court bound the parties in the Superior Court.
in the Superior Court files, either in the { xlvii } original or by certified copy. And, of course, new documentary evidence introduced
this court.” (7) Under a statute47depositions could be taken in civil causes under limited circumstances: if the deponent was aged
been taxed against the party in the Inferior Court. { xlviii } (10) In cases where the losing party below had failed to prosecute his appeal, the
peremptory than it is today; the { xlix } Minute Books show that the Superior Court would dispose of as many as six jury trials
called and brought to trial.54 What might constitute “sufficient Reason” is suggested by an entry in the Suffolk
to the jury room.58 { l } The judges of the Superior Court rendered few opinions in writing, none on any regular
as free to write on a blank slate. { li } In the absence of a comprehensive set of reported decisions or a complete analysis
such Cases is usual in the Law.”68 And at { lii } Worcester, in September 1768, Adams himself represented such a defendant. Samuel Quinn,
Charms in my Eye.71 These seem to have been the last brave arguments of a young man about to enter upon
New Hampshire clergyman.72 Upon graduation in 1755, { liii } however, Adams put off the moment of decision by undertaking to keep a school in Worcester.
This phrase should have warned all his solicitous friends. After a { liv } spring in which “Company, and the noisy Bustle of the publick Occasion” engendered
Reporters, Entries, and Abridgements, &c.78 Putnam seems to have done little in the way of active teaching. Soon after his admission
of oral quizzes in order to ascertain his qualifica• { lv } tions for practice. There were giants at the bar in those days—at least in the eyes
be constant, which is inconsistent with keeping much Company.81 Adams took these words as his guide. Gridley's approach fitted his own intellectual
of Business and profit enough to support a family without Embarrassment.82 Upon the recommendations of Gridley and others, Adams was sworn an attorney in the
still given at the Massachusetts bar.83 He then settled down in Braintree to pursue the lonely { lvi } and arduous routine of any young lawyer starting out for himself. Since he was not
by Books.”88 { lvii } However knowledgeable the litigious yeomanry of Braintree may have been, the bar was
local deputy sheriffs and scriveners who gave bad legal advice and fomented { lviii } litigation.94 Perhaps because of these activities, he was able to report in June 1760 that he “had
Inferior Court frequently { lix } and had cases at nearly every term of the Plymouth Inferior Court during this period.
career as a practicing lawyer.104 { lx } The content of Adams' practice has not yet been analyzed in detail, but it is safe
of wills, deeds, and con• { lxi } tracts—seems to have been performed by such non-lawyers as scriveners, notaries, or
exists) against Theatrical Entertainments.”108 Adams' reply unfortunately has not been found. { lxii } On at least one occasion Adams served as administrator of the estate of a deceased
of whom were engaged in politics as well.112 { lxiii } Other clients of importance included Governor John Wentworth of New Hampshire; Harrison
than the editors have been able to undertake, { lxiv } it is not possible to define fully or accurately Adams' contribution to legal development.
(Nos. 38, 39, 40, 41, and 4238–42). Adams was of counsel in a number of cases arising out of the struggles of Baptists
Suffolk Inferior { lxv } Court, “and answer for me in all things once more, and to write me one Line to let
(now Court) Street, at { lxvi } which he was in steady attendance while the court was in session. Sometimes he traveled
his woes. { lxvii } The next day Adams arrived at Ipswich, where he remained in reasonably comfortable
occurred before { lxviii } the defendant was served. Where more pressure was necessary, Adams or his client delivered
to join with him.130 He tried some of his circuit cases by prearrangement with Boston { lxix } clients who had business in the outlying counties. Other cases came to him after his
the difference as an advance to be { lxx } credited later. If Adams obtained judgment in his client's favor, charges for service
elaborate { lxxi } new pleadings were filed on appeal. The fees here too were undoubtedly made up of
a note (never paid) for £6 13s.144 Retaining { lxxii } fees were also a fairly frequent source of income not regulated by statute. Sums of
notation “finished” would appear beside the entry if { lxxiii } Adams had been paid in cash or by note; “posted” would appear if any unpaid balance
Occasional mentions of “minute books” in the docket lists may refer to such a device.152 { lxxiv } Since Adams' receipts tended to take the form of promissory notes or accounts receivable,
their solution. Gridley's original inspiration had been a critical factor in the { lxxv } formation of this intellectual interest, and Gridley was to be instrumental in reviving
Care, as well as Money.”160 The source of his later complaints that he had “spent an { lxxvi } Estate in Books” is apparent in his efforts in 1771 to open a “Correspondence” with
and feudal tenures; Barrington, Observations on the Statutes; Godolphin, Orphans' Legacy and Repertorium Canonicum; Foley, Poor Laws; Fortescue, De Laudibus Angliae; Calvinus, Lexicon Juridicum;Gardiner, Instructor Clericalis; Hale, History of the Pleas of the Crown; Hawkins, Pleas of the Crown; the State Trials; Selden, Opera Omnia; Malynes, Lex Mercatoria; Swinburne, Testaments and Last Wills;Blackstone, Commentaries, in English and American editions (to the latter of which Adams was a subscriber);163 and many other 18th-century legal works. The Catalogue cannot be relied upon as accurate for two reasons. First, it does not represent the
Library at Quincy are undoubtedly books once belonging to the elder Adams { lxxvii } that were appropriated by the younger, who also had a brief legal career.164 Secondly, Adams remained interested in the law for nearly fifty years after he left
and Communication ... queer, and affected.”166 Kent, “for fun, Drollery, Humour, flouts, Jeers, Contempt ... an irregular { lxxviii } immethodical Head, but his Thoughts are often good and his Expressions happy.”167 Younger men, too, came under his critical gaze. Fitch was “not Steady,” with “a look
because of his long campaign against { lxxix } pettifoggers, “with a whiff of Otis's pestilential Breath, was this whole system blown
and practised the usual time.”177 In { lxxx } February 1771 the bar accepted the report of a committee of which Adams was a member,
to the Bar, and the Advancement of Merit.”180 In his Autobiography, Adams recalled that, from 1769 until the { lxxxi } Revolution, he “had never been without three Clerks in my Office.”181 The following chronological listing of the ten men known to have clerked for him
Eight { lxxxii } were Harvard graduates, one was a Yale man, and one came from Princeton. Austin, Thayer,
letters to Jonathan Mason written in 1776 when { lxxxiii } Mason had nearly completed a frustrating year in what was left of Adams' office and
minds of his students to the broader meaning of the law. { lxxxiv } Law and Public Life
Ruin as well as that of America in General, and of Great Britain.”189 { lxxxv } But, as Bernard Bailyn has pointed out, far from bringing him to “Ruin,” the Stamp
of local government—schools, poor relief, taxes, { lxxxvi } and roads. In later years, when he tried many cases under the poor and tax laws, he
were members of a committee appointed to report on the matter.202 { lxxxvii } A number of nonpolitical measures dealt with matters of importance to Adams then or
concerned. The House chose him to sit on the Council in 1773 and { lxxxviii } again in 1774, but he was negatived on both occasions by the Governor.207 Adams did engage in one piece of public service of at least superficially a nonpolitical
the appointment of his brother Foster to the bench after the { lxxxix } Governor resigned, the appointment as Chief Justice of Judge Peter Oliver (a relative
grants be impeached by the House and tried by the Council. He recalled that { xc } he had supplied the authorities on which the proceedings were based, had developed
early in August. There he { xci } found that nearly half the delegates were lawyers.215 Like him they were experienced in public service of the conventional sort, and many
with which he was most familiar, but because he knew that it was through the { xcii } courts that most people, especially in the remote parts of the state, received their
Acts, with which he must have been familiar { xciii } from his experiences with the British forces in Boston, not only at the time of the
as a lawyer and student of law. Detailed discussion of the relation between Adams' legal back• { xciv } ground and his life in public service must await publication of his political and
philosophical writings and public papers in later volumes of The Adams Papers. From even this bare summary, however, we may conclude that, in the practice of law
of Suffolk County,” 3 Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns. 317 (1900); “The Records and Files of the Superior Court of Judicature, and of the
Supreme Judicial Court, Their History and Places of Deposit,” 5 Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns. 5 (1902). 4. The Records of the Court of Vice Admiralty from 1718 to 1733, as well as its Minute
order. 8. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography lv–lix; 1 Adams Family Correspondence xliii–xlv. 9. A Uniform System of Citation (Cambridge, 10th edn., 1958). 10. Act of 18 June 1697, 1 A&R 282. 11. Act of 1 Nov. 1692, 1 A&R 51–55; Act of 22 Oct. 1692, 1 A&R 58–59; Act of 14 July 1693, 1 A&R 122–123. For a full summary, see Joseph H. Smith, ed., Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts (1639–1702) 82–88 (Cambridge, Mass., 1961). 12. Act of 16 June 1699, 1 A&R 367, 368. 13. Act of 16 June 1699, 1 A&R 367. See 5 Province and Court Records of Maine xii–xvi (Portland, Maine, ed. Neal W. Allen Jr., 1964). The commission of the peace
virtually all the justices in the commission as of the quorum. See 1 Blackstone, Commentaries *351; 1 Holdsworth, History of English Law 290. In Massachusetts, however, only a small proportion of those commissioned were
of the quorum. See, for example, Whitmore, Mass. Civil List 130–131. It was also customary in Massachusetts for certain leading civil officers
of 23 April 1742, 2 A&R 1090 (and extended — see Act of 22 April 1749, 3 A&R 447; Act of 26 April 1770, 5 A&R 39). 15. Act of 16 June 1699, 1 A&R 367, 368. See also No. 24. 16. See Min. Bk., Suff. Sess. 1764–1766, passim. See generally, Nos. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 3024–30. 17. Act of 15 June 1699, 1 A&R 369. 18. Act of 3 June 1707, 1 A&R 459–460. 19. Act of 15 June 1699, 1 A&R 369, 370; Act of 29 Dec. 1749, 3 A&R 481. The exceptions were trespass vi et armis and debts due by bond, which could be brought only in the county where the trespass
ibid.; but by JA's time this requirement had been abolished. Act of 18 Jan. 1742, 2 A&R 1086. 21. For an excellent example, see Bicknell v. Draper, SF 84512. SCJ Rec. 1764–1765, fols. 304–306; Resolve of 23 Feb. 1763, c. 306, 17 A&R 360. 22. SF 84623. The justices of the Inferior Courts, like those of the Superior Court, were
each court. Act of 12 June 1701, 1 A&R 464. 23. Charter of 1691, 1 A&R 12. 24. Hutchinson to John Sullivan, 29 March 1771, 27 Mass. Arch. 136. JA's comment on Oliver: “Our Judge Oliver is the best bred Gentleman of all the Judges,
rough, rude Attacks, but these you dont see escape Judge Oliver.” 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 51. 25. See SF 152575. 26. See 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 275. 27. Act of 26 June 1699, 1 A&R 370. 28. See text at note 18 above. 29. See text at note 20 above. This proceeding was technically an “appeal” as that term was used in the English
a bill of exceptions. See Arthur Browne, A Compendious View of the Civil Law, 1:494–501 (N.Y., 1st Amer. edn., 1840); Sutton, Personal Actions 125–127, 136–144. The Massachusetts Superior Court occasionally allowed a writ of
i.e. of appeals to the Privy Council in real actions. See Smith, Appeals to the Privy Council 76–77, 162–165. 32. See, for example, Nos. 24, 27, 28. 33. See Wroth, “The Massachusetts Vice Admiralty Court,” in George A. Billias, ed., Law and Authority in Colonial America: Selected Essays (Barre, Mass., in press). 34. See Governor Thomas Pownall's “Observations” on the Bankruptcy Act, dated 11 Oct.
control mistakes by referees, see SF 139436. Perjury before referees was a criminal offense. See SF 152019, SF 152216, and SF 152255. 36. For an auditors' report, see SF 27832. John Rowe served as an auditor frequently. See Rowe, Letters and Diary, passim. Arbitration, or an agreement by the parties to submit their difference to a panel
a divorce was granted. See Nos. 22 and 23. 43. Charter of 1691, 1 A&R 19. 44. See Nos. 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 5543–55. A special Admiralty court was occasionally convened pursuant to statute for trial
“Cambridge Court Houses,” 39 Cambridge Hist. Soc., Procs. 55 (1964). On the Falmouth (Maine) court, see JA to AA, 6 July 1774, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 128. 50. See Noble, “The Records and Files of the Superior Court of Judicature, &c.,” 5 Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns. 5, 22 (1902). 51. See John Mein and John Fleeming, Register for New England and Nova Scotia ... 1768 51 (Boston, n.d.); Boston Gazette, 29 March 1773, p. 3, col. 1. 52. See SF 87365. 53. Quincy, Reports 383 note. 54. SF 100432; SCJ Rec. 1763–1764, fols. 43b–44a. 55. Min. Bk., Inf. Ct. Suffolk, July 1771, No. 239. 56. See Act of 22 June 1698, 1 A&R 335; see also SF 148024. The documents indicate that even in the 18th century, prospective jurors
also No. 37, note 8. 59. See opinion of Trowbridge, J., in No. 17; see also No. 28, Doc. IV. 60. SF 26290. And see also SF 27639, the famous case of Erving v. Craddock, Quincy, Reports 553, where defendant, seeking to justify a customs seizure, offered unsuccessfully
For a similar example, see SF 100949. 61. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 231. 62. See Nos. 17 and 27, notes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 94–9. 63. Possible personal injury, SF 85987, SF 101586, SF 132065; medical malpractice, SF 26202, SF 157569; unlawful taking of property by a provincial military officer, SF 100627; selectmen's placing persons diseased with smallpox in plaintiff's house,
any of His Ma[jes]ty's Plantations,” see 1 A&R 95, 99) and never reenacted. 67. SF 25115. 68. SF 173884. Hirsst's crime is not specified. 69. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 353. See Min. Bk. 83, Worcester SCJ, Sept. 1768; SF 152338. Obtaining counsel was not always so easy. See No. 59. 70. Boston Gazette, 10 Mar. 1772, p. 3, col. 1 (sale of thief); Boston Gazette, 10 May 1773, p. 2, col. 3 (ear-removal). See also Rex. v. Moyse and Reader, No. 61. But note the vote of the Suffolk Court of General Sessions of the Peace in Jan.
regulating the involuntary servitude was the Act of 1 Nov. 1692, 1 A&R 51, 52. 71. JA to Charles Cushing, 1 April 1756. MS not located; facsimile in The Month at Goodspeed's, vol. 19, no. 5 (Feb.1948) frontispiece. Printed in 46 MHS, Procs. 410–412 (1912–1913). 72. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 355 note; 3 id. at 263. 73. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 10 (24 Feb. 1756). JA's activities at Worcester from Jan. through Aug. 1756 are chronicled in id. at 1–44. 74. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 262–263. For references to letters from classmates, see JA to Cushing, 1 April 1756, 19 Oct. 1756 (sources in note 71 above). See also Richard Cranch to JA, Oct. 1756, Adams Papers. On seeing his letters to Cushing in print sixty years later, JA wrote to Cushing's son, “I was like a boy in a country fair, in a wilderness, in
all, war. Nothing but want of interest [i.e. influence] and patronage prevented me from enlisting in the army.” JA to Cushing, 13 March 1817, Adams Papers, printed in 1 JA, Works 38 note. JA similarly spoke of the attractions of military life in his letter to Jonathan Mason
in 1776, note 185 below. 75. See, for example, 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 2, 7, 11, 16, 18, 20, 22, 31
. JA's later recollection that he had thought also of becoming a physician (3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 264
) is supported by a brief discussion of the possibility in JA to Cushing, 1 April 1756, note 71 above. 76. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 27. Compare 3 id. at 264
. 77. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 42, 44. See also JA to Richard Cranch, 29 Aug. 1756, Adams Papers; JA to John Wentworth, Sept. 1756 (original owned by Gilbert H. Montague, 1960). For Cranch's disapproval of Adams'
decision, see Cranch to JA, Oct. 1756, Adams Papers. 78. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 173. Although JA may have labored for Putnam “amidst the rubbish of Writs,” only one such document
has come to light. SF 26778. 79. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 63. 80. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 54. See 3 id. at 270. 81. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 54–55. Compare the account of the interview in 3 id. at 271–272
. 82. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 272
. 83. Min. Bk., Inf. Ct. Suffolk, Oct. 1758, following No. 221. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 58–59. Compare 2 id. at 12; 3 id. at 273
. For the oath which JA took, see Act of 20 June 1702, c. 7, §2, 1 A&R 467. The present oath is in Mass. G.L., c. 221, §38 (Ter. edn., 1932). 84. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 173–174. This course of study has been said to have exceeded “that of any other law student
of the time.” Charles Warren, A History of the American Bar 171 (Cambridge, Mass., 1912). As to colonial law study generally, see id. at 157–187. 85. P. 4–25 below. 86. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 48–50, 54, 56–57. 87. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 53–54. 88. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 100
. 89. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 76, 109–110
, 157–159. 90. See JA to Peter Chardon, Jan. 1761
, 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 196–197; Jonathan Sewall to JA, 29 Sept. 1759, Adams Papers; JA to Sewall, Feb. 1760, Adams Papers; Sewall to JA, 13 Feb. 1760, Adams Papers. Compare 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 278. 91. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 64. See id. at 48–50, 57–58, 62–63, 65. After the present edition was in page proof, JA's draft of the defective writ and his thoughts on the case were found in the Royall
Tyler Collection, Gift of Helen Tyler Brown, VtHi. 92. Field v. Thayer, Min. Bk., Inf. Ct., Suffolk, July 1759, No. 163. For the appearance before the justice, see 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 69–71. JA drew at least one other writ for the July 1759 court. See Spear v. Hayward, SF 79783. 93. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 128–130, 151–152. 94. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 135–138135–136, 136–138, 138, 159, 205–206
. As part of this campaign, JA obtained an appointment for his brother, Peter Boylston Adams, as deputy sheriff,
thus ending the need to rely on “pettyfoggers” for the service of writs. See id. at 216–217; 3 id. at 277. 95. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 135 ||(16 and 17 June 1760)||. 96. See text at note 146 below. See also 2 JA, Works 237 note. 97. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 224. 98. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 276. See Min. Bk. 79, SCJ Suffolk, Aug. 1762; Quincy, Reports 35. Actually, JA's first appearance in the Superior Court was in Feb. 1761, when he filed a prayer
v. Tirrell, SF 172280. 99. JA, Docket, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, Jan. 1763. Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 182. 100. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 227. He had prepared at least one writ for the July 1761 Plymouth Inferior Court, but
there is no evidence that he attended the court. See JA's record book, described in note 146 below. 101. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 258–259; 3 id. at 281–282. The dockets referred to in the text are in Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 184. 102. See Nos. 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 4945–49. The continuing increase in JA's practice the following year brought the unhappy comment from James Otis that he
find he had but 4 when the youngest Quincy had 9 and John Adams had 60.” Andrew Oliver to Governor Bernard, 3 Dec. 1769, 12 Bernard Papers 163–164, MH, printed in Quincy, Reports (Appendix) 464. The Minute Book and JA's docket for this term (Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 184) show that he was indeed engaged in sixty civil actions, as well as
in three criminal cases. 103. JA, Office Book, Jan., April, July, Oct. 1773. MQA. 104. His court appearance was in Penhallow v. The Lusanna, No. 58. For further details of his homecoming and departure, see id., text at notes 11, 45, 64–66. As to lawyers' prosperity, see also AA to JA, 1 June 1777, 2 Adams Family Correspondence 251. Two cases in which JA is known to have been engaged for the Feb. 1778 term of the Superior Court are discussed
in No. 58, note 66. See also 2 Adams Family Correspondence 395 note. The Suffolk Inferior Court Minute Book for January 1778 reveals that he entered
in Massachusetts. 105. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 88, 98, 143, 145, 175. For an instance of drafting by a non-lawyer, see Rowe, Diary 64. 106. Reproduced as an illustration in the present edition. Discussed further, text at note 137 below. JA's account with the Kennebec Co., note 139 below, contains similar entries. 107. Vol. 2:105
below. 108. W. L. Morgan to JA, 4 March 1773, Adams Papers. For other examples, see Jacob Rowe to JA, 24 Dec. 1773, Adams Papers; JA to Samuel Tufts, 8 Feb. 1773, Adams Papers. The statute referred to by Morgan was the Act of 11 April 1750, c. 24, 3 A&R 500, providing penalties of £20 against anyone who established a theater for “stage-plays,
23 July 1762. For a case in which JA acted as a referee, see Ingersole v. Viscount, Min. Bk. 81, SCJ Suffolk, March 1765, C–34; Min. Bk. 89, SCJ Suffolk, March 1769, C–1. SF 101329. 110. JA to Cranch, 5 Jan. 1767, Adams Papers. For another example, see 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 182–183. 111. JA to Hayley, 1 April 1770, Adams Papers. 112. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 61
. Through politics JA was to lose the business of Gardiner and Harrison Gray. See JA to AA, 6 July 1774, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 128–129; 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 11. In Dec. 1772 he said “Farewell” to Hancock also. Id. at 72. The breach seems to have been healed by 1774, when JA again began representing Hancock. See SF 92302; Min. Bk. 98, SCJ Suffolk, Aug. 1774, N–65. 113. See Otis v. Robinson, 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 47–48 (25–27 July 1771); Zobel, “Law under Pressure: Boston 1769–1771,” paper given at the Conference
ed., Law and Authority in Colonial America: Selected Essays (Barre, Mass., in press). 114. See Pierpont v. Cutler, 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 8–9. 115. Richmond v. Davis, Quincy, Reports 279 (Suffolk SCJ, 1769); Hooton v. Grout, id, at 343, 368–369 (Worcester SCJ, 1772). See 8 Mass. 554; 14 Mass. 473. 116. P. 26–86 below. 117. See, for example, 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 52, 56, 169, 199, 251. Compare Boston Gazette, 24 Oct. 1768, p. 3, col. 3: “Any person possessed of Jacob's Law Dictionary, or any
other books belonging to the subscriber is desired to return the same. James Otis.” 118. JA to Samuel Quincy, 2 Jan. 1764, MHi:Misc. Bound MSS. 119. See JA, Docket, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, Oct. 1769; SCJ Suffolk, Feb. 1774. Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel Nos. 182, 183. 120. In addition to Sewall, Paine, and Quincy, the lawyers with whom JA was most frequently joined were James Otis, Benjamin Kent, James Putnam, and Daniel
and Jeremiah Dummer Rogers. 121. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 225 note; 1 Adams Family Correspondence 23 note. 122. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 292. The move in 1768 and those thereafter until 1771 are described in id. at 286–287, 291; 2 id, at 68. 123. For the move in 1771 and the life of a commuter, see 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 6–11 ||(16, 17, 20, and 21 April, and 1 and 2 May)||, 45–50 ||(22 July, 8 and 14 Aug.)||. The office in Queen Street is described in a notice in the Boston Gazette, 22 April 1771, p. 3, col. 2: “John Adams Notifies the Removal of his Office to a
Court-House, but on the opposite Side of the Street.” 124. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 296–297. For the move, see 2 id. at 63, 67–68. 125. The following account is based on diary entries from 17 June to 5 Julyfor 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 28 June and 2, 4, and 5 July in 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 35–45. 126. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 38–39, 41–42. 127. Act of 26 June 1699, c. 3, §4, 1 A&R 370. 128. Act of 15 Jan. 1743, c. 13, §2, 3 A&R 29. A lawyer with a substantial number of cases entered them all at once by submitting
a list of them to the clerk. See JA to Samuel Quincy, note 118 above. See several lists of JA's entries in SF 26254, SF 26478, SF 26958, SF 175190, SF 175257, SF 175289. 129. The sheer number of cases sometimes led to error. In June 1765 the General Court granted
Court. JA's account with Kennebec Co., 5 Feb. 1774, MeHi:Kennebec Papers. JA did not attend the court, however. Occasionally, he did draw writs for the Plymouth
Inferior Court. See JA, Dockets, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 184. 131. JA to AA, 4 July 1774, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 122. 132. JA to AA, 29 June 1774, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 114. See 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 62–63, 87–88. 133. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 286. 134. See JA's account with Moses French, 1763–1764. Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 185. JA's account with his brother, Peter Boylston Adams, 26–27 Sept. 1766, Adams Papers. Some sheriffs' accounts remained unpaid as late as 1790. See Cotton Tufts to JA, 18 Sept. 1790, Adams Papers. Figures in this and the next paragraph are based on a study of the accounting devices
described in text at notes 146–151 below. 135. Act of 5 March 1765, c. 26, §2, 4 A&R 746; Act of 26 Feb. 1773, c. 42, §2, 5 A&R 243. 136. Act of 5 March 1765, c. 26, §2, 4 A&R 747; Act of 26 Feb. 1773, c. 42, §2, 5 A&R 243. 137. This John Hancock's Account with John Adams facing page 63account, a MS owned by Nathaniel E. Stein of New York City, 1964, is reproduced as an illustration in the present edition. 138. See No. 12. 139. Account with Kennebec Co., 5 Feb. 1774, MeHi:Kennebec Papers. The payments from 1769 to 1771 were made in cash. See Accounts of
Tours of John Adams in Maine,” 1 Maine Hist. Soc., Colls, (2d ser.) 301–308 (1890). 140. The 1778 vote is in 3 Kennebec Purchase Records 172, MeHi:Kennebec Papers. Adams' previous billing is in his account of 5 Feb. 1774 with the
Company, note 139 above. For further discussion see No. 58, note 66. 141. JA, Docket, SCJ Suffolk, Aug. 1772, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No.183. 142. See editorial note to Nos. 63, 64, note 108. 143. See vol. 2:257, note 39. 144. See No. 57, text at note 25. 145. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 223, 319; JA, Docket, SCJ Suffolk, Aug. 1770, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 184; JA, Docket, SCJ Suffolk, Feb. 1774, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 183. Compare No. 58, note 44; editorial note to Nos. 63, 64, note 108. 146. This early journal was broken up for souvenirs by a granddaughter, Elizabeth Coombs
1763. 147. The first such notation is in JA, Docket, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, July 1768, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 182. See also 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 264, 344. 148. JA's Office Book for Jan. 1770 through April 1774 is in MQA. For descriptions of it in use, see Edward Hill to JA, 29 July 1774, Adams Papers; Cotton Tufts to JA, 18 Sept. 1790, Adams Papers. JA called this document the “Writ Book,” but it has also been described as the “Office
on copies of accounts rendered to clients by JA which were evidently drawn from such ledgers. See materials cited in notes 137, 139,
above. See also JA's account with the estate of John Ruddock, 1770–1772, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 185. 151. See Middlecott Cooke's account with JA, March 1770, Adams Papers. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 350 note. 152. See JA, Docket, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, Jan. 1772; SCJ Suffolk, Feb. 1774, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 183. 153. See text at note 144 above. These notes are filed under date in the Adams Papers. 154. Cotton Tufts to JA, 18 Sept. 1790, Adams Papers. 155. See, for example, Adams v. Bowditch, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, Jan. 1773, SF 91541; Adams v. Brown, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, Jan. 1773, SF 91520; Adams v. Eddy, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, July 1770, SF 89715; Adams v. Whitmarsh, Inf. Ct. Suffolk, April 1771, SF 90271, reproduced as an illustration in this volume. 156. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 251–258 ||(first and second entry for 24 Jan., 31 Jan., and 21 Feb.)||; compare 3 id. at 285–286. 157. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 274. 158. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 224, 317; see also note 117 above. 159. See the large number of books bearing Gridley's autograph in Catalogue of JA's Library, passim. See, for example, 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 57 note, 199 note. Gridley's library, “consisting of Law, History, Divinity, &c.,” was sold on 2 Feb.
1768 with a printed catalogue. See Boston Gazette, 25 Jan. 1768, p. 4, col. 2; 1 Feb. 1768, p. 3, col. 2. 160. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 337. For law books on sale in Boston at this time, see bookseller John Mein's advertisement
of Burrow's Reports,Blackstone's Commentaries, and other legal works. Boston Chronicle, 2 May 1768, Supplement, p. 183. 161. 1 Adams Family Correspondence 74–75; see also id. at 72–73, 80. 162. Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston (Boston, 1917). 163. Catalogue of JA's Library 28; see Charles Warren, A History of the American Bar 178 (Cambridge, 1912). 164. As to the Adams' libraries generally, see 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography xxxvii note. 165. For example, on 23 Sept. 1775 Joseph Hawley wrote to AA that “The Publick have great Need of two Vols. of Mr. Adams English Statutes at large. The edition which Mr. Adams owns is (if I don't mistake) Ruffhead's.” 1 Adams Family Correspondence 283. See also the memo in JA's account with John Hancock of Dec. 1771, note 137 above, indicating that Hancock had procured for JA a set of the State Trials. 166. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 83–84. 167. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 110. 168. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 242. 169. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 317. 170. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 348–349. In May 1771 JA recorded his pleasure at being able to repay the favor which Otis had done him years
ago in recommending him for admission to the bar. JA “strongly recommended 14 clients from Wrentham and 3 or 4 in Boston to him, and they
id. at 12. Compare note 102 above. 171. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 316. 172. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 347. 173. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 235–236. See, generally, 3 id. at 274. 174. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 316. 175. Suffolk County Bar Book, MHi, printed in 19 MHS, Procs. (1st ser.) 147 (1881–1882). The first sixteen pages of the MS (covering 3 Jan. 1770–26 July 1774) are in JA's hand. 176. Hollis R. Bailey, Attorneys and Their Admission to the Bar in Massachusetts 58, 65 (Boston, 1907). JA attended meetings of the bar in other counties as well. See 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 44 (Cumberland Co.), 94 (Essex Co.). 177. Suffolk County Bar Book, 19 MHS, Procs. 148. Blowers and Dana were not called by the court until Sept. 1772. Min. Bk. 79, SCJ Suffolk. Quincy was never called, perhaps because of his political views, but this
and Magic of—the Long Robe.” Quincy, Reports 317. The intent of the distinction between attorneys and barristers seems to have
Alger, “Barristers at Law in Massachusetts,” 30 NEHGR 206 (1877). In general this seems to have been the practice, but the Minute Books
may have prevented both bench and bar from objecting or seeking to apply sanctions. 178. Suffolk County Bar Book, 19 MHS, Procs. 149–150. A further rule provided that students of those whom the association had
and Dana, note 177 above, who had been recommended but not called. 179. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 338. JA charged William Tudor, one of the two, £10 sterling as a fee. Id, at 339–340. 180. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 273. Compare JA to Jonathan Mason, 18 July 1776, Adams Papers, printed in 9 JA, Works 424. When his own sons were contemplating law study, JA wrote that he ought to come home and take them into his office, for he “was once
by it.” JA to Cotton Tufts, 2 June 1786, LbC, Adams Papers, printed in 9 JA, Works 549. 181. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 419. 182. Among those who have been suggested as possibly having studied with JA is Royall Tyler, later Chief Justice of Vermont. See Tyler, “Royal Tyler,” 1 Vt.
probably his preceptor. Suffolk County Bar Book, 19 MHS, Procs. 154. Moreover, his subsequent relations with the Adams family, arising out of his
unsuccessful courtship of AA2, give no hint that he had formerly been in the intimate position of a clerk. See
3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 160–161, 192–193; Mayo, “Miss Adams in Love,” 16 American Heritage 36 (1965). Another candidate is Israel Keith, Harvard 1771, who possessed a commonplace
book containing notes directly attributable to JA, including a copy of the “Abstract” on writs of assistance. See No. 44, note 1031; Quincy, Reports (Appendix) 478. Since Keith was admitted to the Superior Court as an attorney in 1780, the timing
makes it possible that he clerked for JA, but there is no direct evidence. He probably was a student of one of JA's former clerks. JA refused to accept one William Lithgow in 1771 as not having been to college. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 19; compare Suffolk County Bar Book, 19 MHS, Procs. 150–151. JA also successfully recommended Levi Lincoln to Joseph Hawley as a student in 1773,
indicating that perhaps Lincoln had wished to study with JA. Hawley to JA, 30 June 1773, Adams Papers. 183. See, for example, 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 9; 1 Adams Family Correspondence 145–146; JA to John Tudor (father of JA's student William Tudor), 23 July 1774, Tudor Papers, MHi, printed in 9 JA, Works 340–342. This personal relationship appears most clearly in the case of John Thaxter,
2 Adams Family Correspondence, passim. 184. See Jonathan Williams to JA, 28 June 1774; William Tudor to JA, 3 Sept. 1774; Edward Hill to JA, 4 Sept. 1774, all in Adams Papers. JA's dockets, cited in note 119 above, seem to contain instructions to a clerk, or clerks, for the management of
litigation in his absence. 185. JA to Jonathan Mason, 18 July 1776, LbC, Adams Papers, printed in 9 JA, Works 423–424. 186. JA to Jonathan Mason, 21 Aug. 1776, LbC, Adams Papers, printed in 9 JA, Works 432–433. There is little evidence that JA was familiar with the yearbooks. They were seldom cited in his cases and then probably
yearbooks. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 217–218. For details of clerkship under a regime similar to JA's, see JQA's account of his studies with Theophilus Parsons in 1787–1788. “Diary of John Quincy
Adams,” 16 MHS, Procs. (2d ser.) 295–464 passim, but especially 349, 351, 358 (1902). 187. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 201, 203, 226, 252 note, 261 note, 263; 3 id. at 278–280. 188. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 255–258. 189. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 265. 190. Bailyn, “Butterfield's Adams: Notes for a Sketch,” 19 WMQ (3d ser.) 250 (1962). 191. Printed under its later title, “Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law,” with CFA's comment, in 3 JA, Works 447–464. 192. Printed in 3 JA, Works 465–468. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 265 note. 193. See 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 265–268; 2 JA, Works 159 note; No. 44, text at note 48; No. 46, text at note 68; Quincy, Reports 202–214. 194. Printed, with CFA's comment, in 3 JA, Works 469–483. See also 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 272–277, 281–282, 286–292, 296–299; No. 46, notes 76, 10225. 195. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 302–304. 196. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 312–313. 197. 1 JA, Diary and Autobiography 304–305, 332–333. See warnings under the poor laws signed by JA and other selectmen in SF 87296, SF 87538, SF 87540. For his involvement as counsel in such local matters, see Nos. 24–33, 37. JA's client John Ruddock, note 150 above, was a Boston tax collector. 198. See No. 46. 199. See vol. 2:102–103 below. 200. 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 294. 201. See 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 295; 2 JA, Works 233–235 note; 5 A&R 138–139. 202. See 2 JA, Works 235 note; 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 295; 5 A&R 139–140. Hutchinson's comment appears in 3 Hutchinson, Massachusetts Bay, ed. Mayo, 227. For other public matters in which JA was involved at this session, see 2 JA, Works 235 note; 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 2. 203. See Acts of 26 April 1771, cc. 27, 30, 33, 34, 5 A&R 129, 132, 135–136. See also vol. 2:258, note 41, below. 204. See Act of 20 Nov. 1770, c. 9, 5 A&R 109–111, 143; Smith v. Fuller, No. 21, note 214. For the activities of the committee, see Mass. House Jour., 1770–1771 98, 133, 140, 141, 157 (Boston, 1770–1771). 205. See Act of 20 Nov. 1770, c. 10, §5, 5 A&R 113; Pingry v. Thurston, No. 31, note 115. For JA's other cases on this point, see No. 37, note 8. In April 1771 a resolve was passed having to do with the statute levying ministerial
and had ramifications in Philadelphia in 1774. Id., notes 9–14; Resolve of 12 April 1771, c. 62, 18 A&R 495. The statute concerning theatrical entertainments, about which JA was called upon to give advice in 1773, had also been renewed while he was in the
House. See note 108 above. 206. For the moves see notes 123, 124, above. 207. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 82–83, 96 note. 208. See 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 302–304; 2 id., at 95–96; 1 The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton 553–561, 564–565 (N.Y., ed. Julius Goebel Jr. et al., 1964). The copy of JA's brief, in MHi, is printed in id. at 631–650. It has been asserted that this was not a partisan question. At the meeting
Compare 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 200, with 1 Hamilton, Law Practice, ed. Goebel, 559–560. 209. See 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 78 note; 3 id. at 304–305; 2 JA, Works 310–311 note; 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 199. 210. See vol. 2:101, 104; 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 198–199; 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 65–66. For examples of JA's feelings on the questions of nepotism and lack of law training among the Hutchinsons
and Olivers, see 1 id. at 167–168, 259–261, 332; 2 id. at 90. As to Otis, see No. 44, note 21. 211. Printed, with the Cambridge Instructions and Brattle's articles, in 3 JA, Works 513–574; see 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 77–79. Samuel Stryk's Examen Juris Feudalis had been part of the reading of the sodality in Jan. 1765. Id. at 252–255. The provision of the Act of Settlement, 12 June 1701, was 12 & 13 Will. 3, c. 2,
§3. On the question of judicial tenure in the colonies, see Edward Dumbauld, The Declaration of Independence and What It Means Today 112–115 (Norman, Okla., 1950) 212. See 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 518, 748–751. For JA's role, see 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 88–89, 3 id. at 298–302. The idea of impeachment was suggested and some of the same authority cited in an
attack on Hutchinson published in the Boston Gazette, 4 Jan. 1768, attributed to Josiah Quincy Jr. It is reprinted in Quincy, Reports (Appendix) 580–584. 213. SCJ Rec., Aug. 1774, fols. 238–244; Feb. 1775, fol. 1. See 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 751–754; JA to AA, 29 June 1774, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 109–110; same to same, 29 June 1774, id. at 111–112: William Tudor to JA, 3 Sept. 1774; Edward Hill to JA, 4 Sept. 1774, both in Adams Papers; Catalogue of Early Court Files 93–94 (Boston, 1897). The case in Feb. 1775 was Walker v. Parker, SCJ Rec. 1775–1778, fol. 1, formerly a JA case. See SF 92367. A referees' report for Walker was entered. In Aug. 1777, however, the case,
1775. 214. JA to AA, 29 June 1774, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 113–114; see also id. at 117, 123. For the Coercive Acts, see vol. 2:105–106 below; Ross' Case, No. 53. 215. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 96–97, 115. JA's conversations with his colleagues from other provinces are an interesting combination
of mutual education and feeling-out. See id. at 98–127, passim. 216. 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 161 note, 166 note. See JA's commissions as justice of the peace and of the quorum, 6 Sept. 1775, and as justice of the peace throughout the Province, 8 Nov. 1775, both in the Adams Papers. See also AA to JA, 25 Oct. 1775, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 314. As to the patronage aspects of such appointments under the Crown, see JA to AA, 30 June 1774, id. at 116–117. The notification from the Council, 28 Oct. 1775, is in the Adams Papers. 217. For JA's doubts about holding the office, see JA to AA, 18 Nov. 1775, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 327–328; same to same, 12 May 1776, id. at 406; same to same, 3 July 1776, 2 id. at 27; same to same, 18 Aug. 1776, id. at 99–100. For his resignation, see same to same, 10 Feb. 1777, id, at 159. See 3 JA, Works 23–25; 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 359–360. JA had earlier resigned from the Council for similar reasons. See 1 Adams Family Correspondence 421 note. 218. See Cushing, “The Massachusetts Judiciary and Public Opinion,” paper given at the
A. Billias, ed., Law and Authority in Colonial America: Selected Essays (Barre, Mass., in press). As to JA's concern for the opening of the courts, see JA to AA, 27 May 1776, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 420–421; same to same, 7 July 1776, 2 id. at 38; JA to William Cushing, 9 June 1776, Adams Papers, printed in 9 JA, Works 390. 219. See facsimile of the proclamation, 23 Jan. 1776, in Worthington C. Ford, comp., Broadsides, Ballads, &c. Printed in Massachusetts, 1639–1800 (75 MHS, Colls.), No. 1973 (Boston, 1922). The passage in text is quoted from the version printed
in 1 JA, Works 193–196, from a MS in JA's hand then in M-Ar. See generally 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 226 note; 1 Adams Family Correspondence 360 note. 220. See AA to JA, 15 Sept. 1776, 2 Adams Family Correspondence 125; 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 363. See, generally, Quincy, Reports 340–342. For the venire for the June 1776 Essex Superior Court, bearing JA's name, see SF 132468. 221. See 3 JA, Diary and Autobiography 346, 409–412; Nos. 60, 61, 63, 64; AA to Mercy Otis Warren, 25 Jan. 1775, 1 Adams Family Correspondence 179–181. JA also may have gained some knowledge of naval justice from the proceedings of the
substantially the procedure of a naval court-martial. See No. 56, note 17. See, generally, William Winthrop, Military Law and Precedents 21–22, 929–971 (Washington, 2d edn., 1920). 222. See No. 58, text at notes 4–10. 223. Reprinted in 4 JA, Works 1–177. See JA's notes of the debates in Congress in 2 JA, Diary and Autobiography 122–250, passim. For a discussion of the relation between the text of the Declaration of Independence
and the political crises of the preceding decade, see Dumbauld, Declaration of Independence, passim. The link between JA's role as lawyer, legislator, and polemicist in many of these crises, and his service
for further study. 224. See JA, Thoughts on Government (1776), reprinted in 4 JA, Works 193–201; JA, Report of a Constitution (1779), reprinted, with extensive commentary by CFA, in 4 JA, Works 213–267; JA, Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (1787–1788), reprinted, with a preface by CFA, in 4 JA, Works 273–588; 5 id. at 1–490; 6 id. at 1–220. 225. Preface, 1 Co. Rep.[ix] (Dublin, ed. George Wilson, 1793). Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2015.