Many county histories were written during the progressive era and all contained a section on the bench and bar. Typically the names of lawyers and judges in the county were listed, accompanied occasionally by brief biographical data.
The research and writing of this chapter on Redwood County's legal history was a group effort lead by Alfred C. Dolliff, a lawyer practicing in Redwood Falls. It states the usual information about judges, lawyers and early court proceedings but it also contains a long section on murders in the county from the "early seventies" to 1915, followed by an even longer section on important civil cases. The latter includes an account of a lengthy suit by the county to tax the land of the Winona & St. Peter Railroad Company (attempts by states and their subdivisions to tax the land of railroads were fiercely resisted by the roads and resulted in prolonged litigation throughout the second half of the nineteenth century). The chapter concludes with a list of 75 cases appealed from Redwood County to the Minnesota Supreme Court between 1875 and 1915. Without the dates of the appeals and their subject matter,this docket of "appealed cases" is useless-though it is interesting to note that it has few divorce and criminal cases.
This chapter appeared first in a two volume history of Redwood County published in 1916.
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