- Object type: Document
- Formal Title: Samson Against the Philistines, or the Reformation of Lawsuits; and Justice Made Cheap, Speedy, and Brought Home to Every Man's Door; Agreeably to the Principles of the Ancient Trial by Jury, Before the Same Was Innovated by Judges and Lawyers. Compiled For The Use of the Honest Citizens of the United States to Whom It Is Dedicated
- Creator: Jesse Higgins
- Date Created: 1805
- Origin: Delaware, USA
- Current Location: Misc.
The actual cover of the most unusually titled law book ever.
Samson Against The Philistines, Or The Reformation Of Lawsuits; and Justice Made Cheap, Speedy, and Brought Home to Every Man's Door; Agreeably to the Principles of the Ancient Trial by Jury, Before the Same Was Innovated by Judges and Lawyers. Compiled For The Use of the Honest Citizens of the United States to Whom It Is Dedicated was, as the title page indicates, published in 1805.
Although no author is identified on the title page, it has been established that it was not "W. Duane", regardless of what is indicated on the title page. Subsequent editions erroneously identified William Duane as the author.
To Higgins is attributed a quote which resonates even today:
"An honest man could not be a good lawyer."
Instead, according to the bibliography of early American law, the author of the 100-page diatribe was Jesse Higgins:
"… a wealthy Delaware landholder…. The work stems from Higgin's own difficulties in the Chancery courts and was probably the most influential of many attacks on the legal profession in this period."
One of Higgins' more popular recommendation was to impose "arbitration as a substitute for litigation…" According to John Scharf's The History of Delaware, 1609-1888, copies of the first edition, a mere "pamphlet", were quickly scooped up by lawyers and destroyed for fear of losing their livelihood.
The book has been the subject of some but not much academic study, such as Jonathan Roberts, "Memoirs of a Senator from Pennsylvania", at 62 Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 213 (April 1938); M. Bloomfield's piece, American Lawyers in a Changing Society, 1776-1876, a monograph published by the Harvard University Press in 1976; and Jesse Higgins and the Failure of Legal Reform in Delaware, 1800-1810, 3 Journal of the Early Republic 17-43 (1983).
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