This volume, which is a part of the University of Pennsylvania Law School Series, constitutes a commendable effort to contribute to the understanding of the historic development of American law. As the author states, colonial legal history has not received the attention it deserves. It is, indeed, a rich field in which nearly every phase of judicial and legislative law-making is illustrated. The history of the colony of Pennsylvania is especially interesting, as it takes its beginning with the political and legal ideas of Penn. The author has studied the development of the entire system of courts in Pennsylvania down to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The work is founded upon direct research in all the available sources. The value of this book is enhanced by the manner of treatment; the author does not confine himself to a study of the organization of courts, but in dealing with their jurisdiction and methods, he presents an abundance of interesting material which throws light upon the general development of law in the colonial era and the early decades of the Commonwealth. The book is thus of permanent value, and constitutes a building stone in the slowly growing edifice of American legal history. -University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 59

Excerpt from The Early Courts of Pennsylvania This account of the early courts of Pennsylvania is the outcome of some lectures delivered as an auxiliary course in the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania. Their purpose was to describe briefly the establishment and development of the courts in the colonial period. That our ancestors should have expressed such profound admiration for the common law while deviating so widely from it in practice, must have puzzled many who have not learned to put a true value upon the flights of forensic oratory. History alone supplies the key, and colonial legal history has not received the attention it deserves. The absence of reports, the destruction of many records and the inaccessibility of those that have been preserved, have all contributed to discourage work in a field usually abandoned to the antiquarian. But as American law increases in importance, the story of its obscure beginnings will require careful consideration. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Established in 1684, over a century before the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court is the oldest appellate court in North America. This balanced, comprehensive history of the Court examines over three centuries of legal proceedings and cases before the body, the controversies and conflicts with which it dealt, and the impact of its decisions and of the case law its justices created Introduced by constitutional scholar Ken Gormley, this volume describes the Supreme Court’s structure and powers and focuses at length on the Court’s work in deciding notable cases of constitutional law, civil rights, torts, criminal law, labor law, and administrative law. Through three sections, “The Structure and Powers of the Supreme Court,” “Decisional Law of the Supreme Court,” and “Reporting Supreme Court Decisions,” the contributors address the many ways in which the Court and its justices have shaped life and law in Pennsylvania and beyond. They consider how it has adjudicated new and complex issues arising from some of the most notable events and tragedies in American history, including the struggle for religious liberty in colonial Pennsylvania, the Revolutionary War, slavery, the Johnstown Flood, the Homestead Steel Strike and other labor conflicts, both World Wars, and, more recently, the dramatic rise of criminal procedural rights and the expansion of tort law. Featuring an afterword by Chief Justice Saylor and essays by leading jurists, deans, law and history professors, and practicing attorneys, this fair-minded assessment of the Court is destined to become a criterion volume for lawmakers, scholars, and anyone interested in legal history in the Keystone State and the United States.