Indeed, the first mention in the legal press of the use of a "calcium light magic lantern" to display a disputed signature did not occur until 1876, the year after Sevenoaks was published. See Francis Wharton. "VII. Pictures and Photographs: Plans and Diagrams. § 544." from A Treatise on the Law of Evidence in Criminal Issues (Philadelphia, 1880).
Josiah G. Holland, "Chapter XXVIII. In Which a Heavenly Witness Appears."Sevenoaks, p. 408, 406. The dramatic courtroom scene in Sevenoaks recalls Salem Scudder's remark in The Octoroon, when a photograph is discovered that reveals the identity of a murderer: "The eye of the Eternal was on you—the blessed sun in heaven, that, looking down, struck upon this plate the image of the deed." Dion Boucicault, The Octoroon, or Life in Louisiana. In Arthur H. Quinn, ed., Representative American Plays, 1767-1923 (New York, 1925), p. 453.
Marcy v. Barnes, 16 Gray 161 (1860).
Albert S. Southworth, "An Address to the National Photographic Association of the United States, Delivered at Cleveland, Ohio, June, 1870." 8 The Philadelphia Photographer 315 (October, 1871), p. 319.
"The Howland Will Case," 4 American Legal Review 625 (July, 1870), p. 641.
The case heard testimony from variety of Harvard illuminaries, including Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Agassiz, both providing expert microscopic testimony for the plaintiff.
"The Howland Will Case," 4 American Legal Review 625 (July, 1870), p. 644, 652, 653.
Taylor Will Case, 10 Abbott's Practice Reports (N. S.) 300, 316. (1871).
Frank Rice, Chapter LII. Photography. The General Principles of the Law of Evidence (Rochester, 1892), v. II:1164.
See "Photographic Copies of Documents." 3 The Central Law Review 587 (September 15, 1876).
In re Foster, 34 Mich. 21 (1876).
J., J. A. "The Legal Relations of Photographs." 17 The American Law Register 1 (Jan, 1869), p. 7.
"The Legal Relations of Photography." 7 Albany Law Journal 50 (January 25, 1873), p. 51.
Eborn v. Zimpelman, 47 Tex. 503 (1877).
Ibid. For the experiments referred to see H. Vogel, "German Correspondence," 14 The Philadelphia Photographer 149-151 (May, 1877).
Leathers v. Salvor Wrecking Co., 2 Woods C. C. 680 (1875).
"The Daguerreolite," The [Cincinnati] Daily Chronicle, v. I, no. 38 (Jan. 17, 1840)
Cowley v. People, 83 N.Y. 464 (1881), p. 477, 478.
Ibid., p. 478.
Henry Robinson reminded his colleagues that "a method that will not admit the modification of the artist cannot be an art, and therefore is photography in a perilous state if we cannot prove that it is endowed with possibilities of untruth." Henry P. Robinson, "Paradoxes of Art, Science, and Photography," [1892] in Nathan Lyons, ed., Photographers on Photography (Englewood Cliffs, 1966), p. 83.
"The Photograph As False Witness," 34 The Albany Law Journal 457 (December 4, 1886) [From Photographic News], 457.
Ibid. A similar anecdote is found in Irving Brown, "Practical Tests in Evidence (cont.)," 5 The Green Bag 60 (February, 1893), p. 63:
An amusing case appeared some time ago in one of the law courts. It was a dispute between two persons about a wall.... Then up rose the counsel for the defendant, and with a smile handed the learned judge his photographs of the same wall. In the first set of photographs the wall was of immense size, towering above all the winds; in the second, however, it was of liliputian dimensions, a most insignificant thing, unworthy of any dispute. SOURCE
Francis Wharton, "XIV. Inferences: Identity. § 805." A Treatise on the Law of Evidence in Criminal Issues (Philadelphia, 1880), p. 684-685.
Frank Rice, Chapter LII. Photography. The General Principles of the Law of Evidence (Rochester, 1892), v. 2, p. 1172.
Ibid., v. 2, p. 1174.
John Henry Wigmore, A Treatise on the System of Evidence in Trials at Common Law (Boston, 1904), I:893, § 790.
Walsh v. People 88 N. Y. 458 (1881), p. 463.
"Practical Tests in Evidence (cont.)," 5 The Green Bag 60 (February, 1893), p. 62.
Fore v. State, 75 Miss. 727 (1898), p. 738.
Selleck v. Janesville, 104 Wis. 570 (1899).
State v. Miller, 43 Oregon 325 (1903) p. 329.
John C. Baird, "Distinctions of Photography in Evidence," 41 Central Law Journal 157 (August 23, 1895), p. 158, 157.