Book Description

Willis, William. A History of the Law, The Courts, and The Lawyers of Maine, From Its First Colonization to the Early Part of the Present Century. Portland, Bailey & Noyes, 1863. iv, [ii], [v]-viii, [2], [9]-712 pp. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. 2005. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-628-4. ISBN-10: 1-58477-628-5 Cloth. $95.* Early histories by local lawyers, such as this one, are often quite valuable because they were written by people who were steeped in local traditions and had access to practitioners of the preceding generation, who were invaluable sources of fact and anecdote about their generation and the generation that preceded them. Written during the early 1860s, this book draws on interviews with people who practiced before Maine was a state and could recall anecdotes from the colonial period. Along with historical chapters and biographical sketches of such lawyers as Simon Greenleaf and William B. Sewall, the book has information about "social usages of the bar," popular law books and how lawyers from other colonies were treated.