Introduction to Joseph Smith’s New York and Pennsylvania Legal Cases
Introduction to Joseph Smith’s New York and
Pennsylvania Legal Cases
Between 1817 and 1831, JS lived primarily
in , with periodic residences in northeastern . During those years, he was involved in at
least four legal cases in New York and one in Pennsylvania. In New York, he appeared as
a witness in 1819 in a civil suit brought against a neighbor by his
father, , and older brother
. In 1826 and twice in 1830,
JS was charged with violating the state’s disorderly persons statute
based on allegations stemming from his use of . Later in 1830, JS was a voluntary party in an
“amicable action” in Pennsylvania brought to ensure his payment of a
loan.
Relevant New York Courts
JS’s cases took place in justice of
the peace and county-level courts, the lowest levels of ’s complex tiered court system.
Although justices of the peace rarely obtained formal legal
education during the nineteenth century, they were required to be
“fit and discreet men” who were well-respected in their communities.
Before 1826, county officials appointed justices of the peace to
serve four-year terms; after that year, citizens in each town
elected justices. They were authorized to hear minor civil disputes
involving claims up to $50. They were conservators of the peace in
their counties, possessing authority to prosecute disorderly persons
and to hold preliminary examinations to determine whether there was
sufficient evidence that a crime had been committed to send the case
to trial at a county-level court.
Parties that lost a civil suit before a justice of the
peace were permitted to appeal the judgment to the court of common
pleas, which also had authority to try all civil disputes. ’s governor, with the consent of the state senate,
appointed a professional judge to serve a five-year term in each
county’s court of common pleas, along with two assistant
justices. To try criminal cases “under the
degree of grand larceny,” New York law permitted three justices of
the peace within a county to form an ad hoc court of special
sessions.
JS’s New York Cases
In February 1819, JS was asked to
testify in Joseph Smith Sr. v. J. Hurlbut, a
civil suit brought by and
against a local farmer, . The Smiths alleged
that Hurlbut had provided them unsound horses under an agreement in
which they would harvest crops on his behalf. , New York,
justice of the peace Abraham Spear presided
at the jury trial. After hearing testimony from witnesses, including
thirteen-year-old JS, the jury awarded the Smiths $40.78 in damages
and $4.76 in costs. Hurlbut appealed the decision to the Ontario
County court of common pleas, which heard the appeal in August 1819.
When the Smiths did not appear, the court issued a judgment against them.
In winter 1825–1826, JS resided with in , New York, in the southern part of the state. He
was employed by Stowell and possibly other county residents
performing various tasks, including using seer stones to locate
valuable items that were believed to be buried in the ground. JS
also purportedly engaged in these activities in neighboring during those
months. In March 1826, JS was arrested and tried by Chenango County
justice of the peace on the
charge of being a disorderly person in State of
New York v. JS–A. Extant contemporaneous sources are silent
on the outcome, and later reminiscences are contradictory.
Following the organization of the church on 6 April
1830, JS returned to the area to visit
recent converts. Protestant ministers and other antagonists revived
the disorderly person charge, evidently based on JS’s earlier seer
stone activities. JS was first tried on 29 June 1830 in State of New York v. JS–B, before justice of
the peace Joseph Chamberlin, who after
hearing testimony discharged him from custody. JS was immediately
arrested and brought before
justice of the peace Joel Noble, along with
unidentified additional justices who likely formed a court of
special sessions, in State of New York v.
JS–C. Noble similarly discharged JS after hearing testimony
on 30 June. JS was evidently discharged in both instances because
the statute of limitations stipulated that prosecution for an
alleged crime had to occur within two years of the initial
offense.
JS’s Case in Pennsylvania Courts
As in , justices of the peace formed the
lowest level of ’s court system. In August
1830, JS borrowed money from George H. Noble & Co., a local
merchant, in order to complete a purchase of real property from his
father-in-law, . Noble and JS commenced an
“amicable action” before , a Susquehanna County
justice of the peace, to ensure that JS would repay the loan. Lane
filed his docket entry with the Susquehanna County Court of Common
Pleas, the next level of the state’s court system. In early 1831,
JS relocated with his family to , and by that June he
satisfied the debt to Noble.