Main entry:

McNamara, Martha J.

Title & Author:

From tavern to courthouse : architecture & ritual in American law, 1658-1860 / Martha J. McNamara.

Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, ©2004.

Description:

xv, 162 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Series:

Creating the North American landscape

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-153) and index.
Lawyers, architects, and the redefinition of public space -- "Summoned among rogues and thieves": court settings and procedures at century's end -- Constructing a profession: lawyers, courts, and commerce in eighteenth-century Massachusetts -- "A grand procession of court and bar": judicial landscapes and the representation of legal power -- Housing the courts: law and architecture in the Early Republic -- Slaves and scriveners: the assault on professional authority.
Also issued online.

Summary:

"During the formative years of the American republic, lawyers and architects, both eager to secure public affirmation of their professional status, worked together to create specialized, purpose-built courthouses to replace the informal judicial settings in which trials took place during the colonial era. In From Tavern to Courthouse, Martha J. McNamara addresses this fundamental redefinition of civic space in Massachusetts. Professional collaboration, she argues, benefited both lawyers and architects, as it reinforced their desire to be perceived as trained specialists solely concerned with promoting the public good. These courthouses, now reserved exclusively for legal proceedings and occupying specialized locations in the town plans, represented a new vision for the design, organization, and function of civic space."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents
Book review (H-Net)
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Entire Brian O'Connell Collection
Table of contents

ISBN:

0801873959 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
9780801873959 (hardcover ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Courthouses Massachusetts History.
Judicial process Massachusetts History.
Processus judiciaire Massachusetts Histoire.
Courthouses.
Judicial process.
Massachusetts.

Form/genre:

History.

Added entries:

Creating the North American landscape.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 232039
Call No.: NA4472.M3 M39 2004
Status: Available