[PW] 19th cent. court case?

[Waters, Sally]

Lexis does have cases going way, way back, and an 1870s case from New York should be there  (there is an 1882 case involving the SPCC), but I suspect that the reason it isn't there is that the case didn't go to an upper court on appeal, and almost all cases on Westlaw or Lexis are appellate ones. According to an article in the Georgetown Law Journal, v. 90, p. 299 (quote is from p. 333): 

The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formally a private organization, founded, led, and largely funded by some of the most prominent and wealthy philanthropists of its day. 123 <https://mail2.law.stetson.edu/Exchange/WATERS/Drafts/RE:%20[PW]%2019th%20cent.%20court%20case_x003F_.EML/1_text.htm#n123>  Yet it immediately sought, quickly won, and eagerly exercised unprecedented legal authority to scrutinize its targeted families, remove their children, and arrest their parents. 124 <https://mail2.law.stetson.edu/Exchange/WATERS/Drafts/RE:%20[PW]%2019th%20cent.%20court%20case_x003F_.EML/1_text.htm#n124>  The society and its empowering legislation regulated the rights, responsibilities, and relationships of family members, but its work was not understood to fall within the jurisdiction of family law, and it operated on principles at odds with family law as it was authoritatively defined. 125
 

The really interesting thing in the article,  reflecting what the quote says about the Society operating on its own legal authority, is that although the article cites lots of cases that the SPCC brought, they appear to only be reported in the Society's Annual Reports, and not actual court reports (at least, that's what the Georgetown L. J. cites to me -- and I'm sure the footnotes and citations for the article were probably checked over plenty!) 

I think that your best bet for finding out more about this case is to look for histories of the Society, perhaps from the Society in its present version, or the New York Public Library; the case isn't on Lexis.

Sally Waters, Queen of Reference
Stetson Law Library

"Dignity. Always dignity." -- Don Lockwood

 
________________________________

From: project-wombat-open-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org on behalf of Sue Kamm
Sent: Sat 7/19/2008 6:25 PM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: Re: [PW] 19th cent. court case?



Allen, I don't know what part of the world you're in, but if you have
access to a comprehensive law library (a law school, county law library),
their staff may be able to help.  I don't know if Lexis has digitized case
law back that far, but if I recall from my days as a law librarian (shortly
after the invention of moveable type <g>) there's a print source (decennial
digests?) that might have the information you're looking for.

HTH!

Your friendly neighborhood CyberGoddess and ALA Councilor at Large,
Sue Kamm
Email: suekamm[at]mindspring.com
Inglewood/Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Dodgers Truest of the Blue, 2000
Visit my blog:  http://suekamm.blogspot.com <http://suekamm.blogspot.com/> 
"High fly ball hit into right field ... she is gone!  In a year that seems
so improbable, the impossible has happened!" - Vin Scully, calling Kirk
Gibson's walk-off home run, Game 1, 1998 World Series


> [Original Message]
> From: <AllenAmet at aol.com>
> To: <list at project-wombat.org>
> Date: 7/16/2008 2:01:11 PM
> Subject: [PW] 19th cent. court case?
>
> Hi,
> 
>   Does anyone on the List have access to that digitized database
(Lexis?) of
> old court cases?
> 
>   This one in question dates from 1875-1876, and occurred in New York
State.
> I think it was one of the first such cases filed by the Society for the 
> Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SPCC); it was listed, apparently, in
their 
> First Annual Report.
> 
>   It involved a child acrobat named "Prince Leo" and the case was
prosecuted
> by them against a trapeze artist named Walla Leonard (aka  Wallington
> Husband). The child (7 years old?) had been performing at  the Tivoli
Theatre in NYC,
> and there were complaints about the boy's  mistreatment (following an
earlier
> 'Prince Leo' in Philadelphia). It would be  very helpful to see if the
> Defendant's words were preserved in some way. There  was a 2001 article
on this
> landmark case and it may have contained the case  citations ('New York's
1876 Act
> to  Prevent and Punish Wrongs to Children').
> 
> Thanks.
>
> Allen
> 
>
>
>
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