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Lincoln Appointed Guardian ad litem for underage child Emily Bailey Autograph legal brief, one full page entirely in the hand of Lincoln and signed by him, dating from his legal work for the Eighth Circuit Court of Illinois. Lincoln’s legal briefs are now increasingly important owing to recent interests by The Lincoln Legal Papers in Springfield in compiling and publishing his cases. Lincoln’s professional life remains surprisingly inaccessible to historians though the problem in this realm is largely archival. The documents from Lincoln’s legal practice are only recently being systematically gathered from Illinois courthouses. We do know that Lincoln was admitted to the bar in 1836 and quickly became John Todd Stuart’s law partner. Lincoln was a diligently successful lawyer, and if, as is the case with some practitioners, he left no mark on the law, he nevertheless became a lawyer’s lawyer, participating in over 350 cases before the Illinois Supreme Court. This document dates from the time Lincoln ran his own law firm with William H. Herndon as his junior associate. Lincoln had just been elected to congress for the first time but had not yet begun to serve. In this document Lincoln is appointed guardian ad litem for the child Emily Bailey. The case concerns a sale of land made by her father right before his death. The separate answer of Abraham Lincoln appointed by the court guardian ad litem of Emily B. Bailey one of the defendants in the above-entitled case [Peter A. Brower vs. Jane Bailey, et al] are in fact under the age of eighteen years…to the court that he is wholly ignorant of the matters and things contained in the bill of wrongful behavior filed…by Jane Bailey + Nelson G. Edwards other defendants—and therefore….and be held to strict….of his said bill. A. Lincoln. Guardian ad litem of Emily B. Bailey. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff by ordering Bailey’s administrators to convey the deed upon Brower’s payment of the balance due. The case was presided over by Judge Samuel H. Treat, Eighth Circuit Court of Illinois. The document is dated on the verso “September 11, 1846.” Besides the document all being written on one side and having both variations of Lincoln’s signature, which is extremely desirable, and considering the amount of Lincoln’s handwriting, this is a choice piece of Lincolniana. In good to very good condition, light creasing in the fold, some toning from prior framing, and three small pieces of acid free document tape on verso.........$38,500.00   |