Henry S. Cohn, a judge trial referee of the Connecticut Superior Court, and Michael Schulz, a 2021 graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law, have posted John Hooker, Reporter of Judicial Decisions, which appears in the Connecticut Law Review 53 (1921): 265-305. Judge Cohn tells us:
John Hooker, who lived from 1816 to 1901, was a founder of Nook Farm, which became a literary community in Hartford, CT. This community was where Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Dudley Warner lived, as well as lesser known authors and politicians. John Hooker was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother-in-law. Hooker’s wife, Isabella Beecher Hooker, was president of the Connecticut Suffrage Society.He adds, from the article itself:
This article discusses the life and reportership of John Hooker, an early Connecticut Judicial Reporter and participant in the Women’s Suffrage movement in Connecticut. This article analyzes Hooker’s letters, written primarily to his wife Isabella . . . to better understand Hooker’s experiences and thinking. This article then addresses three points of contention regarding Hooker’s life. First the article discusses Hooker’s unique style of adding footnotes with his own commentary to judicial opinions. Second, this article argues that Hooker’s contributions to the In re Mary Hall decision [allowing her admission to the Connecticut Bar] may have been more significant than some of his modern critics contend. Third, the article pushes back on criticism of Hooker’s obituary tributes [placed in the Connecticut Reports], particularly his obituary of Chief Justice Park, arguing that these were in keeping with the style of the time rather than indicative of jealousy.
For more on Mary Hall: this and this.
--Dan Ernst
