Legal History
Updated May 13, 2026
Six unfashionable Minnesota cases, twelve forgotten judges, and a Norwegian county commissioner.
About this section
"Legal History" collects Burt Hanson's essays on historical American legal practice, with a strong Minnesota emphasis. Burt was particularly fond of pre-1950 Minnesota Supreme Court opinions that he argued contained more insight about the practice of law than anything written in the past several decades. He also wrote about the broader history of judicial robes, the persistence of the billable hour, the changing role of court reporters, and the strange evolution of capital punishment in a state that abolished it in 1911 and has never seriously reconsidered.
Featured essays
- BurtLaw's Legal History: six Minnesota cases that explain more than they should
- A Brief History of the Black Robe: from mourning Queen Mary II to a Hennepin County bench in 2005
- Capital Punishment, A Minnesotan View: a state that abolished the death penalty in 1911