Summons, 6 Mar. 1839 [JS v. McLellin]; Declaration, ca. 6 Mar. 1839 [JS v. McLellin].  

See Documents, Volume 6, Introduction to Part 3: 4 Nov. 1838–16 Apr. 1839.  

Ebenezer Page, Letter to the Editor, Zion’s Reveille, 15 Apr. 1847, 55; Statement, between 10 and 25 March 1839 [JS v. McLellin]; see also Documents, Volume 6, Introduction to Part 3: 4 Nov. 1838–16 Apr. 1839.  

Zion’s Reveille. Voree, Wisconsin Territory. 1846–1847.

See Documents, Volume 6, Introduction to Part 3: 4 Nov. 1838–16 Apr. 1839; and Declaration, ca. 6 Mar. 1839 [JS v. McLellin]. Missouri law required that the suit be commenced in the county where the defendant resided, not where the alleged wrong occurred. (An Act to Regulate the Practice at Law [17 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, p. 451, art. 1, sec. 4.)  

The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly during the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. . . . St. Louis: Argus Office, 1835.

Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 3:152, italics in original; see also “Trover,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:454. Trover is a form of trespass on the case, which is how Gordon identified the action in the declaration.  

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes, from the Eighteenth London Edition. . . . 2 vols. New York: W. E. Dean, 1840.

Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; with References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1839.

Declaration, ca. 6 Mar. 1839 [JS v. McLellin]. The declaration indicated that McLellin found the goods and converted them to his own use in Clay County in September 1838. While this scenario is possible, it is not supported by other historical sources, which instead describe McLellin obtaining JS’s goods in Caldwell County in October or November 1838. It is more likely that Gordon employed a legal fiction, or hypothetical scenario assumed to be true to accomplish some purpose in a legal matter. According to a nineteenth-century legal treatise, “the allegation of finding” the property was considered “a mere fiction,” since under trover the plaintiff could seek damages only for the defendant’s conversion of the property. Furthermore, because trover was considered a transitory action, neither the place nor the time of the alleged wrong was considered material, meaning the plaintiff was not required to identify either accurately. (Historical Introduction to Declaration, ca. 6 Mar. 1839 [JS v. McLellin]; “Fiction of Law,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:406; Swan, Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law, 21; Stephen, Treatise on the Principles of Pleading in Civil Actions, 343.)  

Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; with References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1839.

Swan, Joseph R. The Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law, in Ohio, and Precedents in Pleading, with Practical Notes; together with the Forms of Process and Clerks’ Entries. 2 vols. Columbus: Isaac N. Whiting, 1845.

Stephen, Henry John, and Francis J. Troubat. A Treatise on the Principles of Pleading in Civil Actions; Comprising a Summary View of the Whole Proceedings in a Suit at Law. 2nd American ed. Philadelphia: Robert H. Small, 1831.

Summons, 6 Mar. 1839 [JS v. McLellin]; Motion, 18 Apr. 1839 [JS v. McLellin]; see also Historical Introduction to Promissory Note to John Brassfield, 16 Apr. 1839.  

Docket Entry, Nolle Prosequi, 21 Aug. 1839 [JS v. McLellin].