Footnotes
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992 and its cataloging was finalized in 2017.
Footnotes
“Good News from America,” Millennial Star, July 1840, 1:63. In March 1842, JS charged Davis with slandering him under Nauvoo’s vagrancy and disorderly persons ordinance after Davis publicly accused JS of swindling him in their business dealings. Later that year, Davis was again brought before Nauvoo’s mayoral and municipal courts to answer charges of slander, as well as charges of assault and of violating Nauvoo’s temperance ordinance. (Historical Introductions to City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of JS–A; City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of JS–B; City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of JS–C; City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Ardent Spirits; City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Assault; and City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles; see also Complaint against Amos Davis, 29 Nov. 1842; and City of Nauvoo v. Davis, 6 Dec. 1842.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 938, 950.
Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.
John Finch, Petition, 23 Nov. 1843, State of Illinois v. Finch (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843); Isaac Higbee, Mittimus, 23 Nov. 1843, State of Illinois v. Finch (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843), copy; Habeas Corpus, 23 Nov. 1843, State of Illinois v. Finch (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843), copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. The Nauvoo charter gave the city’s municipal court “power to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases arising under the ordinances of the City Council.” Beginning in July 1842, the Nauvoo City Council passed a series of four ordinances that delineated and expanded the municipal court’s authority to issue writs of habeas corpus beyond what was typically allowed at the time. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; Ordinance, 5 July 1842; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Aug. and 9 Sept. 1842, 98–99, 101; Ordinance, 14 Nov. 1842.)
Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 89. In habeas corpus proceedings, courts were traditionally forbidden from inquiring into the evidence that led to the arrest except under very specific circumstances. In contrast, Nauvoo’s city ordinances explicitly required the municipal court “to examine into the origin, validity, & legality of the Writ or Process.” (Blackstone, Commentaries, 2:107; Kent, Commentaries on American Law, 2:25–32; An Act Regulating the Proceeding on Writs of Habeas Corpus [22 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 324, sec. 3; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 98; Ordinance, 14 Nov. 1842.)
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes, from the Eighteenth London Edition. . . . 2 vols. New York: W. E. Dean, 1840.
Kent, James. Commentaries on American Law. Vol. 2. New York: O. Halsted, 1827.
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 89–90. This ruling was likely based on the city’s 8 August 1842 ordinance regulating habeas corpus proceedings. This ordinance stipulated that if a court discovered that an arrest warrant had been issued “either through private pique, malicious intent, religious or other persecution, falsehood, or misrepresentation, contrary to the constitution of this State, or the constitution of the United States,” the court was authorized to quash the warrant. Finch explicitly pointed to this statute in his petition to the municipal court for a writ of habeas corpus. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 98; John Finch, Petition, 23 Nov. 1843, State of Illinois v. Finch [Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
Execution, 15 Dec. 1843, State of Illinois v. Finch (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
Execution, 15 Dec. 1843, State of Illinois v. Finch (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; see also Book of the Law of the Lord, 109.
“Trespass,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:579–580.
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.
Praecipe, 23 Feb. 1844, Davis v. JS et al. (Hancock Co. Cir. Ct. 1844); Notice, 9 Apr. 1844, Davis v. JS et al. (Hancock Co. Cir. Ct. 1844), Illinois State Historical Society, Circuit Court Case Files [Cases pertaining to Mormon Residents], 1830–1900, CHL.
According to Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, as long as defendants “acted under regular process of a court of competent jurisdiction,” they could not be sued for trespass. However, if “the court has no jurisdiction and the process is wholly void,” then the defendant was open to a suit of trespass. (“Trespass,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:580.)
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.
Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court Records, 1829–1897, vol. D, pp. 122, 171, microfilm 947,496, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
State of Illinois,) | Sct. |
.) |
“Sct.” is an abbreviation for scilicet, a Latin adverb meaning “namely” or “to wit.” (“Scilicet,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:483.)
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.
Located on the town square in Carthage, the Hancock County Courthouse was completed in 1839. (Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 237.)
Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.
20 May 1844.
TEXT: Head inserted vertical lines or parenthesis marks to demark the limits of the cancellation.
TEXT: Embossed seal with a female personification of Justice surrounded by a crown of laurels and the text.
Backenstos replaced Jacob C. Davis, the previous clerk, in May 1843. (Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 240.)
Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.