Governor Theodore Christianson appointed Arthur William Selover to the Probate Court of Hennepin County in 1928, and to the District Court in 1930. He was elected in 1932, reelected twice, and retired in 1950. He died on August 25, 1956, at age 85. In a memorial for the County Bar Association the following year, his accomplishments as a treatise writer, law professor and city official were recalled:
"There were many and varied activities in Judge Selover's life. He was an author of national renown. His textbooks on negotiable instruments and on guaranty and suretyship were used extensively. He was an inspiring teacher for more than twenty years at Minnesota College of Law. He was associate dean and vice president of that law school and dean at the time of its merger with the Minneapolis College of Law in 1940. This college was merged with the St. Paul College of Law in 1956 and is now known as the William Mitchell College of Law. He was active in civic affairs. He served as a Minneapolis Alderman for several terms. He was president of the City Council in 1911-1912, and acting Mayor most of 1912."
Selover's first treatise on the law of negotiable instruments is ponderously titled, "The Negotiable Instruments Law for New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Utah, North Dakota, District of Columbia." It was published by the Keefe-Davidson Law Book Company, St. Paul, in 1900, with a second edition in 1905. It is posted here.
Reviews of Selover's treatise have not been found. It may have been overlooked during a spirited debate that raged within the pages of the Harvard Law Review and Yale Law Journal over provisions of the recent Negotiable Instruments Act between James Barr Ames, Dean of the Law School, and Judge Lyman Brewster of Connecticut. See generally Charles L. McKeehan's "The Negotiable Instruments Law (a Review of the Ames-Brewster Controversy," that was published in three issues of 50 American Law Register (August, September and October 1902).
A later book by Selover on the same subject, covering other jurisdictions, is titled "A Treatise on Negotiable Instruments for Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wyoming, Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Wisconsin." It was published by the Keefe-Davidson Law Book Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, around 1902. A second edition by William Henry Oppenheimer (1884-1975) was published in 1910 by Keefe-Davidson. It is posted in the "Treatises/textbooks" category of the archives of the MLHP.
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Posted MLHP: August 11, 2016.
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