United States, Official State Court Codes (National Institute)

Collections of Official State Code
Periodically a compilation (summary) of state laws will be published. As researchers, we want to use these volumes to assist us in determining the laws for specific time frames and locations.

Example - Dower Rights
By way of example—suppose that we wish to learn more about dower rights about 1803 in New Hampshire. The state of New Hampshire authorized the publication of a volume titled, Constitution and Laws of the State of New Hampshire; together with the Constitution of the United States. Looking in the index we will find a multitude of entries for Dower—we may wish to review each entry or choose from the list.


 * Dower, regulations concerning
 * Dower, of what lands the widow dowable
 * Dower, how widow to be endowed in lands where the husband lost or parted his title
 * Dower, widow may sue for
 * Dower, form of writ of... writ of seizin of dower
 * Dower, service of writ of
 * Dower, damages in
 * Dower, how to be set off
 * Dower, how to be set off, when no division can be made by metes and bounds
 * Dower, tenant in, not to commit waste
 * Dower, not barred by deed of husband alone
 * Dower, not barred by will if waived
 * Dower, reversion of, when to be distributed or fold

State laws may limit the period in which a widow may apply for her dower rights. For example, in Georgia in 1882, a widow who failed to apply for her dower within seven years following the death her husband would forfeit her dower rights.

Study of Laws
In order to interpret documents correctly, we must depend upon and study laws. We tend to generalize a bit more than we should, e.g. women had no individual rights until 1920 when the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed by Congress. It is true that frequently all property, real and personal, that a woman brought to her marriage fell under the control and the responsibility of her husband. But, do we know when our geographic region began protecting the rights of women? We will find that answer in the session laws. For example in 1866 Georgia passed a law which stated that the property of the wife was not liable for the husband’s debts.

As researchers, we frequently need to understand the legal ramifications of titles to property. In 1848, Hotchkiss, in his Codification of the Statute Law of Georgia, indicates that over 90 acts and resolutions apply as related to marriage, personal contracts, and leases and rents.

The following illustrates the variety of articles and sections. All of the articles relating to titles of property and marriage may be found at the Woodward-Geiger.com - Statute Law of Georgia website.

Titles of Property and Marriage [1848, Georgia] 



Titles of Property and Marriage [1848, Georgia] - Continued



Hotchkiss’ Codification of the Statute Law of Georgia (1848) provides a Table of Descents (as it relates to Georgia Law).

Table of Descents [1848, Georgia] 



Suppose we wish to learn more about the activities and regulations of New Hampshire proprietors in 1804—the Constitution and Laws of the State of New Hampshire contains a chapter, “Proprietor’s meetings—Power of Taxing”.

Published Laws
We don’t want to overlook the published laws as a source to learn more about diseases in the state. Generally the state legislature will pass laws relating to health issues. On 3 February 1789, the New Hampshire legislature passed an act:

Research Note: To determine if some of the early state law books are available on microfilm (for sale, for rent, or for interlibrary loan), contact the state archives or search the Family History Library Catalog.