Gordon Morris Bakken

California Legal History: A Bibliographic Essay

CALIFORNIA the state. While a substantial amount of literature exists, there remain abundant opportunities for research, particularly given the wealth of archival and documentary materials that have yet to be examined. The existing literature conveniently breaks down into ten main topical areas: water law, the bar, legal education, civil law, mining law, state and federal courts, admiralty, criminal law, constitutional law and land law. The survey that follows will treat these topics in that order.1

Federal Justice in California: The Court of Ogden Hoffman, 1851-1891@@@Practicing Law in Frontier California

For forty years Ogden Hoffman presided over the federal district court for the Northern District of California, disposing of more than nineteen thousand cases brought before him. Federal Justice in California: The Court of Ogden Hoffman, 1851-1891 considers a career remarkable for longevity and productivity and at the same time examines the operation of a federal trial court in nineteenth-century America - the cases adjudicated, their significance, and the courts impact upon the community. Solidly researched, Christian G. Fritzs book is unique in attending to the law on the level at which it was most often encountered by participants in legal actions. During his four decades on the bench, from the time of the California gold rush to the anti-Chinese movement of the 1880s, Hoffman dealt one-on-one with a cross-section of humanity: through his court came sea captains, seamen seeking their wages, wealthy steamship owners and distraught and injured passengers, and Chinese immigrants. Fritz shows him adjudicating land grant conflicts and bankruptcy cases and presiding over the admiralty, criminal, and common law and equity dockets. The author has examined thousands of Hoffmans cases to gain insight into how nineteenth-century federal trial courts were used, by whom, and with what effect. The successful use that a broad range of plaintiffs made of Hoffmans court requires a re-examination of theories suggesting that law of the period primarily developed and courts largely operated in ways that promoted commercial and entrepreneurial interest. Just as important, Fritzs sensitive analysis of an institution never loses sight of the proud life-long bachelor, native New Yorker, and scion of a distinguished family who always identified himself with his court. Christian G. Fritz is a professor of law at the University of New Mexico.

The Development of the Law of Mortgage In Frontier California, 1850-1890: Part I: 1850-1866

The development of the law of mortgage in California, 18501866, reflected the tensions of lawmaking amid rapid social and economic change. Mortgage law development was critical for the new state because of the need for investment capital, the security of interests in land, and the stability of investment without mature banking institutions. The legislature and Supreme Court labored to create a mortgage law to enable transactions in a frontier marketplace. There were several different types of mortgage instruments. The common mortgage was a deed or conveyance of land by a borrower to a lender followed by or preceded by a description of a debt, commonly a promissory note, included in or attached to the mortgage instrument. A second type of mortgage was the trust deed. Here the borrower conveyed the land to a third party, not the lender, in trust for the benefit of the holder of the note that represented the mortgage debt. Finally, an equitable mortgage was any written instrument demonstrating the intent of the parties that real estate be held as security for the payment of a debt.

Law and Legal Tender in California and the West

When Congress passed the Legal Tender Act in 1862 declaring United States notes to be legal tender for debts, it presented a critical question of federalism to our nations courts. The national government, as part of its effort to deal with our greatest internal emergency, had laid down important new national money-supply policy. The declared public policy was clear. The legal tender acts were specifically part of the national war effort. They were soon followed by national banking legislation which filled out the contours of national money policy. Yet several western states, loyal to the national government otherwise, openly seceded from this important aspect of national policy. The legal tender issue forced several western supreme courts to grapple with problems involving political, economic, and legal considerations of public policy. The response of these courts varied regionally, but each reflected judicial attitudes on the state of the law during and after the Civil War and the extent of judicial review. Moreover, these decisions reflected a judicial view of the necessities of their respective commercial communities. The legal tender issue, then, demonstrated both the role of the judiciary in defining a proper medium for the conduct of credit transactions and the limits of judicial power.

The Development of the Law of Tort in Frontier California, 1850-1890

The California courts in developing the law of torts for the state played an essential role in the social order. The responsiveness of the courts to social change in the period 1850-1890 laid a common-law foundation for what is today a leading jurisdiction1 and played a part in the process leading to workers compensation. Further, the developing law mirrored a basic tension of economic and social demands in a frontier situation. The values of entre-

The Growth of Chattel Credit Law in Frontier California, 1850-1890

The period 1850-1890 was a time of testing for California lawmakers. Californias statehood, the gold rush, and the demands of a thriving commercial community demanded immediate legal action to legitimize business dealings and structure credit transactions. Moreover, the frontier banking institutions failed to provide financial stability for almost two decades. In this context, California lawmakers sought rationalized legal systems for credit transactions.