From Deseret News archives:
Law in Joseph Smith's day
American law in Joseph Smith's day is almost unrecognizable today, because so much has changed, and one must be careful and meticulous in combining the tools, legal research and statutory and documentary analysis in drawing conclusions, said John W. Welch, a professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU.
Brother Welch chaired a May 23 session on Joseph Smith and the law in Illinois at the 44th annual Mormon History Association Conference in Springfield. He introduced three presenters, each associated with the Legal and Business Series of the Joseph Smith Papers project of the Church History Department.
