Description
Book SynopsisConcise and clearly written, From Tavern to Courthouse reveals the processes by which architects and lawyers crafted new judicial spaces to provide a specialized, exclusive venue in which lawyers could articulate their professional status.
Trade ReviewMcNamara embeds an architectural history of the transformation of civic space in an argument that stresses the causal imperatives of professionalization... From Tavern to Courthouse is to be recommended. -- Christopher Lawrence Tomlins William and Mary Quarterly 2005 McNamara's thesis... is convincing. -- James L. Garvin Historic New Hampshire 2005 An excellent work that expands our understanding of public space and professionalization in eighteenth and early nineteenth century Massachusetts. -- John H. Hepp IV American Historical Review 2006 McNamara's explication of legal and architectural change, adroitly employing the history of professionalization, rituals, landscapes, and the law, deserves a wide readership. -- A. G. Roeber Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2007 Will remain as a highly valuable resource for those studying early American law. -- Claire Priest Law and History Review 2007
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introducion. Lawyers, Architects, and the Redefinition of Public Space
Chapter 1. "Summoned among Rogues and Thieves": Court Settings and Procedures at Century's End
Chapter 2. Constructing a Profession: Lawyers, Courts, and Commerce in Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts
Chapter 3. "A Grand Procession of Court and Bar": Judicial Landscapes and the Representation of Legal Power
Chapter 4. Housing the Courts: Law and Architecture in the Early Republic
Epilogue. Slaves and Scriveners: The Assault on Professional Authority
Notes
Bibliography
Index
