Anthology of Nineteenth Century American Legal Poetry

* Despite the demands of a practice undertaken without today's modern conveniences--and electricity--many 19th century lawyers and judges in America found the time, and had the inclination, to write poetry. A good deal of it was about the law-clients, cases, trials-even law books-and the affairs of the day. Other poems address timeless themes such as nature, faith and illness. Some were meant to be humorous. Edited by Michael H. Hoeflich, an expert on 19th century American legal practice, this collection, which includes poems by President John Quincy Adams and Supreme Court Justices Joseph Story and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and a few laymen with an interest in law, offers a window into life in 19th century America as reflected in the practice of law, which by its very nature is entwined in so many stages of life.

MICHAEL H. HOEFLICH is the John H. & John M. Kane Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Kansas School of Law. He holds degrees from Haverford College, Cambridge University and Yale Law School. He taught at the University of Illinois from 1980-1988, was dean of the Syracuse University College of Law from 1988-1994, and was dean at the University of Kansas School of Law from 1994-2000. Hoeflich is the author or editor of 15 books including Sources of the History of the American Law of Lawyering (2007), Legal Publishing in Antebellum America (2010), The Law in Postcards & Ephemera 1890-1962 (2012) and more than 115 articles. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the American Antiquarian Society and the Kansas Correspondent of the Selden Society. He was awarded an honorary degree (LL.D.) by Baker University in 2003.