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Introduction to Joseph Smith’s Ohio Legal Cases

Introduction to Joseph Smith’s Ohio Legal Cases

In December 1830, JS dictated a revelation commanding the fledgling church to relocate from to . JS arrived with his family in , Ohio, in early 1831; he would reside in the state for the next seven years. During JS’s time in Kirtland, he was involved in nearly fifty lawsuits as a plaintiff/complainant, defendant, witness, or interested third party. Most of these cases dealt with unpaid financial obligations, although a few resulted from entanglements with JS’s antagonists in Ohio. These cases were heard by as well as the county-level courts of common pleas.

Relevant Ohio Courts

Justices of the peace constituted the lowest level of ’s tiered court system. Qualified voters in each township elected justices for three-year terms. Justices of the peace held limited jurisdiction within their counties over , but for most crimes, justices could conduct only preliminary examinations to determine whether there was sufficient evidence against the accused to send the case to trial before the court of common pleas.

Civilly, justices were authorized to hear disputes for debts up to $100. Losing parties were permitted to appeal justices’ decisions, under certain conditions, to the court of common pleas.

In accordance with the Constitution of 1802, the state was divided into circuits composed of multiple counties, with a professional judge who presided over the court of common pleas in each county. The state legislature appointed the presiding judge, along with associate judges who were assigned to specific counties, to seven-year terms. Rotating through the circuit, the court of common pleas met in each county in three terms per year. The court held “complete criminal jurisdiction” within its counties, as well as jurisdiction over civil suits for debts larger than $100 in common law and . The state supreme court was composed of four justices; it held jurisdiction over all crimes, could adjudicate civil suits for debts larger than $1,000, and could hear appeals from courts of common pleas.

JS’s Ohio Cases

While in , JS and other church leaders sought to build up as a “,” centered at the , which they completed and dedicated in March 1836. In their efforts to build , in the mid-1830s JS and other church leaders formed multiple firms or partnerships that operated mercantile stores in Kirtland and , Ohio. The firms purchased thousands of dollars in inventory from wholesale merchants in on credit, using assuring repayment in the future, usually three to six months later. Church leaders hoped to make the required payments by selling the goods they had purchased. In November 1836 church leaders also established a community bank, the , in an effort to strengthen the local economy. The society was funded in part by stockholders and in part by loans from other financial institutions. By January 1837, JS and other church leaders were unable to get a state charter for the Kirtland Safety Society, so they decided to restructure it as an unchartered banking company.

A nationwide economic downturn in 1837 dashed the Latter-day Saints’ financial ambitions in .

During the ensuing financial crisis, creditors across the turned to the courts to collect debts and thereby “created an untold volume of litigation.” When the -area firms failed to pay their promissory notes to merchants on time, those in possession of the notes hired lawyers to pursue debt litigation in the , Ohio, court of common pleas, which resulted in JS being named as a defendant in dozens of suits. As a plaintiff, JS sought to collect small debts on behalf of the Kirtland-area firms before Kirtland justices of the peace. In addition, civil proceedings were brought against JS and based on an Ohio statute that banned unchartered banks. In at least two cases, JS signaled his intent to appeal a court of common pleas decision to the state supreme court, although documentation for these appeals, if they were indeed filed, has not been located.

Although the vast majority of JS’s nearly fifty cases in were civil in nature, he was involved in four criminal prosecutions. In 1834, JS accused , a former Latter-day Saint, of threatening his life. The case originated before a justice of the peace and culminated before the Court of Common Pleas, which upheld JS’s allegation. Another Ohio antagonist, , brought an assault and battery charge against JS in 1835 following an altercation between JS and his brother-in-law . Two years later, Newell alleged that JS had threatened to take his life. Geauga County justices of the peace held preliminary examinations to evaluate these allegations and in each case sent them to the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas for trial. The court of common pleas acquitted JS in both cases brought by Newell. In September 1837, JS filed a complaint accusing constable Abram Ritch of “unlawful oppression by ” based on an unknown incident. After hearing testimony against Ritch, justice of the peace discharged Ritch for lack of evidence.

In early 1838, JS relocated from to . He authorized agents to settle his debts and answer remaining lawsuits in Ohio, some of which continued into the 1840s. For more information on litigation against JS’s estate in Ohio, see The Estate of JS.

1
Revelation, 30 Dec. 1830 [D&C 37:1–3]; Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:32]; Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–C.
2
Ohio Constitution of 1802, art. 3, secs. 3, 11. If a defendant accused of assault and battery pleaded guilty, the justice could convict and fine him or her. If the defendant did not plead guilty, the justice could hold a preliminary hearing to determine whether to send the case to the court of common pleas. (An Act Defining the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace and Constables, in Criminal Cases [11 Mar. 1831], Acts of a General Nature [1831], pp. 194–195, secs. 1–7; An Act Defining the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace and Constables, in Criminal Cases [27 Mar. 1837], Acts of a General Nature [1836–1837], pp. 87–88, secs. 1–7.)
Ohio Constitution, 1802. Ohio History Connection.
Acts of a General Nature, Enacted, Revised and Ordered to Be Reprinted, at the First Session of the Twenty-Ninth General Assembly of the State of Ohio. Columbus: Olmsted and Bailhache, 1831.
Acts of a General Nature, Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-Fourth General Assembly of the State of Ohio; Begun and Held in the City of Columbus, December 7th, 1835. In the Thirty-Fourth Year of Said State. Columbus: James B. Gardiner, 1836.
3
An Act Defining the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace and Constables, in Civil Cases [14 Mar. 1831], Acts of a General Nature [1831], pp. 170–171, sec. 1; p. 177, secs. 35–38, 40.
Acts of a General Nature, Enacted, Revised and Ordered to Be Reprinted, at the First Session of the Twenty-Ninth General Assembly of the State of Ohio. Columbus: Olmsted and Bailhache, 1831.
4
Ohio Constitution of 1802, art. 3, secs. 3–4, 8; An Act to Regulate the Times of Holding the Judicial Courts [6 Feb. 1832], Acts of a General Nature [1832], pp. 8–9, sec. 4; An Act to Organize the Judicial Courts [7 Feb. 1831], Acts of a General Nature [1831], pp. 56–57, secs. 1–2, 4; An Act to Regulate the Practice of the Judicial Courts [8 Mar. 1831], Acts of a General Nature [1831], p. 78, sec. 108.
Ohio Constitution, 1802. Ohio History Connection.
Acts of a General Nature, Passed at the First Session of the Thirtieth General Assembly of the State of Ohio; Begun and Held in the Town of Columbus, December 6th, 1831. And in the Thirtieth Year of Said State. Columbus: David Smith, 1832.
Acts of a General Nature, Enacted, Revised and Ordered to Be Reprinted, at the First Session of the Twenty-Ninth General Assembly of the State of Ohio. Columbus: Olmsted and Bailhache, 1831.
5
Introduction to Documents, Volume 5: October 1835–January 1838; Introduction to the United Firm; Introduction to Kirtland Mercantile Firms.
6
Introduction to the Kirtland Safety Society; Introduction to Bank of Geauga v. JS et al.; Documents, Volume 5, Introduction to Part 5: 5 Oct. 1836–Apr. 1837.
7
See Sellers, Market Revolution, 354–355; Lepler, Many Panics of 1837, 197–223; and Rousseau, “Jacksonian Monetary Policy, Specie Flows, and the Panic of 1837,” 457–488.
Sellers, Charles. The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815–1846. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Lepler, Jessica M. The Many Panics of 1837: People, Politics and the Creation of a Transatlantic Financial Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Rousseau, Peter L. “Jacksonian Monetary Policy, Specie Flows, and the Panic of 1837.” Journal of Economic History 62 (June 2002): 457–488.
8
Lepler, Many Panics of 1837, 225.
Lepler, Jessica M. The Many Panics of 1837: People, Politics and the Creation of a Transatlantic Financial Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
9
See Introduction to G. Patterson and J. Patterson v. Cahoon, Carter & Co. and Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery; Introduction to Newbould v. Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery; and Introduction to L. Holmes and C. Holmes v. JS and Cahoon.
10
See Introduction to Millet for the Use of JS v. Woodstock; Introduction to Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery for the use of JS v. Woodworth; Introduction to Cahoon, Carter & Co. for the use of JS v. Avery; and Introduction to Cahoon, Carter & Co. for the use of JS v. Draper.
11
Introduction to Rounds qui tam v. JS.
12
See Introduction to JS for the use of J. Granger v. Smalling and Coltrin; and Introduction to Underwood, Bald, Spencer & Hufty v. Rigdon et al.
13
Introduction to State of Ohio v. D. P. Hurlbut; Introduction to State of Ohio v. JS for Assault and Battery; Introduction to State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life.
14
Introduction to State of Ohio v. Ritch.
15
Introduction to Ohio Agent Papers; Introduction to M. Allen v. O. Granger; Introduction to Halsted, Haines & Co. v. O. Granger et al.

Introduction to Joseph Smith’s Ohio Legal Cases

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