Tuesday, May 9, 2017

The Digital Return of the Judgment Roll in Pierson v. Post

My Paternal Grandfather's Case Brief (1926)
Those of us who teach Pierson v. Post have long been indebted to Angela Fernandez, University of Toronto, for finding the judgment roll and transcript in that great chestnut of first-year Property classes (see right), as well as for her on-going research and writing on the case.  In 2009 she had arranged for the posting of a digital version of these documents on Law and History Review’s website in conjunction with a forum in the journal, but it was lost in the move of LHR to Cambridge Journals Online.  To make matters worse, the original document has gone missing from the archives.

Fortunately, Professor Fernandez has arranged to have the University of Toronto preserve her photocopies of the original handwritten documents, which are now our best surviving version of them.  The permanent repository for the judgment roll and transcript is here.  A temporary exhibit is here.  She reports that each link comes with an explanation of “the twists and turns for those who are interested.”