The Lincoln Legal Papers

Purpose of This Mini-Edition

Editors of The Lincoln Legal Papers were working on an electronic image edition before MEP began. The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, Complete Documentary Edition (CDE) is slated for release on CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM) in late 1999. The MEP sample was to duplicate its search and informational display capabilities using a sample of its data and images. The challenge for this mini-edition was to demonstrate how this could be done on the Web. Unfortunately, this challenge could not be met to the satisfaction of all concerned. The MEP sample in this case is delivered on CD-ROM disc. (See Preview the Edition for more information.)

The content of both the CDE and the mini-edition is document images and a database that provides information about the documents and the legal cases to which they belong. The database is used with a search engine to access the document images based on queries developed by the user. A custom-designed interface helps the user develop queries to find the information that he or she seeks; it then displays case and document information—and document images—in a logical presentation.

This sample shows how document images and a database can be used to deliver a scholarly edition. Documents from Lincoln’s legal cases can be accessed through any combination of the following characteristics:

• general and legal index topics
• participants and their role in a case (plaintiff, defendant, attorney, judge, witness, juror, etc.)
• beginning and/or ending dates
• courts in which a case appeared (including the division of court)
• the action of the case
• how the case was judged (for the plaintiff, for the defendant, dismissed, etc.)
• the type of documents it contains
• the date of the documents
• the people who wrote and/or signed the documents.

A list of cases that match the search criteria is then generated. Additional information about a case is presented including a summary. Images of its documents can be enlarged, reduced, rotated, and even enhanced; they can be saved to disk or printed.

For example, researchers can study cases that meet the following conditions:

• Abraham Lincoln was attorney AND the subject involved slavery AND the case was appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court;
• Abraham Lincoln was judge AND the action was debt AND the case was agreed (settled out of court);
• the case was tried in the criminal division AND the action was murder AND the case contained jury instructions;
• the case was heard in a county circuit court but NOT the Sangamon County Circuit Court;
• the subject involved horses OR cows AND railroads AND fences.

Although lacking in the sample, the CDE contains reference material including a legal glossary, biographies of key people, maps of Illinois counties and legal jurisdictions, essays on antebellum legal pleading and practice and 19^th century courts, and a chronology on Lincoln the lawyer.

This web site maintained by The Model Editions Partnership.
This page updated 11 November 1999 by mep@sc.edu
URL http://adh.sc.edu/ll/llmini.html