Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Descriptive Summary
Title: Hall (John B.) San Joaquin County Legal Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1861-1898
Collection number: Mss233
Creator:
Extent: 3 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Hall (John B.) San Joaquin County Legal
Papers, Mss233, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of
the Pacific Library
Biography
John B. Hall (1821-1906) practised law in Stockton, Calif. from1851
until his death. Hall was the son of a Hagerstown, Maryland attorney. He
studied at St. Johns University and at the Jefferson Law College after which he
was admitted to the Maryland bar (1840). Hall practised law in Hagerstown for
ten years before coming to California (1850) where he established a practice in
San Francisco. Soon afterward, Capt. Charles Weber, founder of Stockton, hired
John B. Hall to handle his legal affairs (1851). Hall then relocated in
Stockton where he remained until his death.
John B. Hall was a member of the Stockton Blues, a militia company
composed exclusively of Democrats (and principally of southerners), which San
Joaquin County historian, George Tinkham, characterized (1923) as "a corps of
gentlemen, sociable, generous, and always ready for a lark." This group, which
received free muskets and ammunition from the state but supplied its own
uniforms and housing, engaged in close-order drill and target practice, paraded
on every occasion and attended gala performances and balls in full regalia. The
group disbanded in June 1861 when pro-Union members uncovered a plot on the
part of Confederate sympathizers among the Blues to steal the company's arms in
order to lead an insurrection against the state government.
Active in politics during his early years in Stockton, John B. Hall was
a Union Democrat. He was twice elected chairman of the county Democratic
convention (1857 and 1859) and also attended the wartime convention (1863).
After the War, Hall lead a quieter life, engaging in law practice with various
partners, including Henry Huggins, S.P. Scaniker, W.S. Montgomery, and Marion
DeVries. Among the better-known cases with which Hall was involved were: the
People of California v. Las Mariposas Estate [John C. Fremont's grant]
(1866-68) and the Stockton & Visalia Railroad v. the Stockton City Council
(1870). Many of his clients were involved in land disputes. Hall seems to have
been universally respected in Stockton where, according to Tinkham (1909), "his
name [was] synonymous with sterling integrity and unblemished character...."
From about 1861, John B. Hall kept bound volumes of printed copies of
the briefs and transcripts of all cases he argued before the California Supreme
Court. He annotated these in ink and pencil. Hall's nineteen volumes span
virtually forty years and constitute a major resource for the study of 19th
century civil litigation, both in northern California and in San Joaquin
county. The briefs were written not only by Hall, but also by other prominent
attorneys of the region, such as: J.H. Budd, David S. Terry, F.T. Baldwin,
George W. Tyler, and James A. Louttit.
Scope and Content
N.B.--Hall had Transcripts and Briefs bound separately before 1878.
After that date Transcripts and Briefs for a particular case are bound
together. It is not clear why the individual Briefs were bound together as they
were. Their order is vaguely chronological, but not consistently so--nor is
there evidence of subject ar-rangement, apart from the uniform contents of
Briefs, Vol. 6.
CONTENTS
BOX ONE: TRANSCRIPTS of CASES, 1864-1877
I. 1864-1870 II. 1870-1872 III. (1866) 1873-1874 IV. 1874-1877
BOX TWO: BRIEFS of CASES, 1861-1874
I. 1861-1867 II. 1866-1871 III. 1869-1872 IV. 1867-1872 V. 1866-1874 VI.
1870 (Stockton & Visalia Railroad v. City of Stockton)
BOX THREE: BRIEFS of CASES, 1875-1898
VIA. 1875-1877 Unbound Briefs & Transcripts, 1875-1898
BOX FOUR: TRANSCRIPTS & BRIEFS, 1878-1887
V. 1878-1881 VI. 1878-1885 VII. 1886-1887
BOX FIVE: TRANSCRIPTS & BRIEFS, 1879-1884
VIII. 1879 IX. 1880-1883 X. 1881-1884
BOX SIX: TRANSCRIPTS & BRIEFS, 1887-1893
XI. 1887-1893 XII. 1888