Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 1

[151] Professor Greenleaf, and a similar series of the English Chancery Reports, ancient and modern, in connection with Richard Peters;¹ and a treatise on the ‘Law of Sales.’ In 1836, he was urged to edit Chitty's treatise on Criminal Law, but declined; recommending in his stead Mr. Perkins, of Salem.²

During the whole of this period of three years following his admission to the bar, he continued to write for the ‘Jurist,’ having, as assistant of Mr. Phillips, the editor, the main charge until April, 1836; when Sumner, Hillard, and Cushing were announced as the editors. Besides contributing articles on legal topics, the editorship involved much drudgery in digesting the recent reports and in preparing miscellaneous matter. One number,—that for Oct., 1835,—when just ready to be issued, was destroyed by a fire which took place at the corner of Devonshire and Water Streets, and Sumner was obliged to rewrite his own contributions to it. The magazine kept up its high character, but was not remunerative; and the small number of its contributors imposed a heavy burden on its editors. Much of the material prepared by the different editors cannot now be traced to the one who supplied it; but Sumner's longer articles are marked with his initials, and his correspondence with friends reveals his authorship of some briefer notices. The following are identified as written by him:—

Are Challenges to Jurors in Massachusetts determinable by Triors?³—an article which treats not only the particular point, but the broader question, to what extent the American colonists adopted the common law of England; review of Howe's ‘Practice;’⁴ ‘Right to Sue the United States,’⁵— suggested probably by the private claim which, as a friendly act, he promoted on his visit to Washington in 1834; ‘Sketch of the Law School at Cambridge,’⁶—taking for its text Professor Greenleaf's inaugural discourse, and giving a history of the school, with a tribute to Nathan Dane, a living benefactor;⁷ ‘The Advocates' Library in Edinburgh,’⁸—which dwells upon the necessity of law libraries to meet the vast increase in law