Formulary.

Introduction

Jared Ingersoll’s ‘‘Formulary’’ has many implications for legal scholarship. Most importantly, it provides transparency into the practical aspects of how laws were implemented in Early America. While it is one thing to know which laws existed on the books, it is another to see how such laws were actualized. By situating this text in with its historical context, legal historians can understand more than just the recorded, established laws, but how laws were able to affect individual’s lives. Additionally, the book demonstrates the evolution of the legal field through encompassing the legal frameworks for cases that were particularly relevant at the time, notably, ones pertaining to slavery.

Historical Context and Background

Jared Ingersoll

Jared Ingersoll, the proprietor of the formulary, was a famous American lawyer, politician, and a signer of the U.S. Constitution. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1749. His father, also named Jared Ingersoll, was Connecticut’s agent to London and was responsible for enforcing the detested Stamp Act of 1765. The younger Ingersoll followed a different political trajectory as an advocate for American independence just after his graduation from Yale University in 1766. To launch his career as a lawyer, Ingersoll took over his father-in-law’s legal practice during his term as Pennsylvania Governor. Ingersoll was very accomplished in both law and politics, including by taking part in the nation’s founding. In his legal career, he argued many cases, some in front of the United States Supreme Court. Notably, he represented Georgia in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), a significant case and victory for Ingersoll, in which the Court established its ability to involve itself in interstate disputes, which led to the passage of the Eleventh Amendment. Additionally, he litigated in Hylton v. US (1796), the Court’s first case concerning Judicial Review. Finally, Ingersoll was a significant revolutionary figure. As a well-respected lawyer during the American Revolution, Ingersoll was entrusted to attend the Constitutional Convention (1787), where he argued in favor of a stronger national government and supported replacing the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution. Understanding Ingersoll’s background should make clearer why his formulary is particularly significant; Ingersoll made critical contributions to American law, which may be partially apparent through his personal form book.

Form Books

There is little literature written about form books, and even less about “formularies,” as the book is entitled. Form books, however, are books comprised of templates lawyers use for different legal proceedings. They prove especially useful in the legal drafting process, where lawyers must emulate the exact language and procedure required by statute. Form books differ in scope, some focused in one area of the law or large multi-volume sets, and others containing a few general legal forms. Ingersoll’s formulary falls into the latter category, as a single, incomplete volume set with few forms here and there. While his form book may have proved useful in legal proceedings relevant to him, its incomplete nature, evident by the hundreds of blank pages at the end of the book, indicate that its present value lies in its historical significance rather than its practical utility.

Apprenticeship System

Ingersoll studied law through an apprenticeship system, earning his legal degree from Philadelphia lawyer Joseph Reed. The apprenticeship system was the original way in which lawyers earned their bar certifications; students, or apprentices, learned law under the direct supervision of an attorney while performing tasks to assist them. Book historian Arthur Fraas hypothesizes that Ingersoll began writing the formulary in 1778 when he moved to Philadelphia as a young lawyer. The first 153 pages are written in one hand, presumably Ingersoll’s. It is possible that the different handwritings subsequently are from Ingersoll’s apprentices, giving the alignment with the era of apprenticeship legal education. While proprietary law schools emerged in the 1780s, the apprenticeship system persisted in the years following. Thus, Ingersoll’s formulary might be a tangible example of a task assigned to aspiring lawyers in the Early American period.

Material Analysis

Jared Ingersoll’s ‘‘Formulary’’ is a manuscript from the University of Pennsylvania's Kislak Center for Special Collections cited as Ms. Codex 1628. A digital facsimile to view the manuscript is available from the University of Pennsylvania’s library.