Welcome to the Arkansas Supreme Court Library.
Created by Act of January 9, 1851, 1851 Ark. Acts 89, the library serves the Arkansas Supreme Court justices and staff, the Arkansas Court of Appeals judges and staff, and support court staff within the Justice Building.
The library is also open to the general public from 8:00 AM-4:30 PM, Monday-Friday (closed state holidays). The library is a reference-only collection, meaning that materials must be used on-site and are not loaned. No charge is imposed for use of the library, other than per-page photocopy charges. Library staff may not offer legal advice.
Display Topic:
Chief Judge George Knox Cracraft
Arkansas Court of Appeals
George K. Cracraft, Chief Judge of the Arkansas Court of Appeals, elected to the Arkansas Court of Appeals in 1980, was inspired to enter law by his father, the late George K. Cracraft Sr. of Helena and devoted his entire life to law. He was involved in private practice, criminal law, prosecution, defense, and the judiciary, and was the West Helena City Attorney and Phillips County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney. He retired at the end of 1992.
Judge Cracraft’s life was one of tradition, service, and integrity. Born September 29, 1922, he became a third-generation Arkansas lawyer. He served his country with distinction in battle servicing as First Lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces, piloting B-17 Flying Fortress bombers on thirty-five combat missions over Nazi Germany. He served in Korea as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Judge Cracraft was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Presidential Unit Citation.
Sources: 2012 Ark. App. 93; Arkansas Democrat, Little Rock, AR, July 10, 1985, pg.86.
Display Topic: November
The Arkansas Colonial Legal System (1686-1804) &
the First American Legal System in Arkansas (1804-1812)
This month’s display features books from the Arkansas Supreme Court Library on the early Arkansas Legal System. Topics include: “The Arkansas Colonial Legal System (1686-1804)” and “The First American Legal System in Arkansas (1804-1812)” Explore these books available in the library on the origins, intricacies, and evolution of legal practices during these crucial periods. From colonial codes to early statehood, this exhibit sheds light on the foundations that shaped Arkansas law.
Display Topic: August
AD LITEM
Bryan A. Garner, Editor in Chief
ad litem (ad lI-tem or -təm) [Latin “for the suit”] (18c) For the purposes of the suit; pending the suit. See guardian ad litem under GUARDIAN (1); attorney ad litem under ATTORNEY.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019), ad litem
PRO SE
Bryan A. Garner, Editor in Chief
pro se (proh say or see) adv. & adj. [Latin] (1817) For oneself; on one's own behalf; without a lawyer <the defendant proceeded pro se> <a pro se defendant>. — Also termed pro persona; in propria persona; propria persona; pro per. See PROPRIA PERSONA.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019), pro se
The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) provides interpreting services for individuals who have a limited ability to understand English, are deaf or hard of hearing, or are unable to speak. Removing barriers to communication helps ensure that all persons receive fair and equal access to justice.
The AOC is charged by law and Supreme Court per Curiam Order with the responsibility for the certification and matters related thereto of foreign language interpreters for Limited English Proficiency (L.E.P.) individuals, witnesses, or victims in the state and local courts of Arkansas. The AOC must also comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing qualified interpreters for the deaf and hard of hearing. The AOC provides interpreting services during court proceedings or directly related actions. The AOC Court Interpreter Services maintains a Registry of Certified Court Interpreters who may be contracted directly by attorneys, law enforcement officers, jail officials, other state agency employees, social workers, or mental health workers for interpreting services.
Office of Court Interpreter Services (OCIS) | Contact: 501-682-9400 Email: aoc.interpreter.services@arcourts.gov
Source: https://www.arcourts.gov/administration/interpreters
Source: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/law-day/
Display Topic: April
Books by and About Arkansas Judges, and
About the Arkansas Supreme Court
The April display contains biographical and autobiographical books pertaining to Arkansas Supreme Court Judges, Arkansas Court of Appeals Judges, Arkansas Circuit Judges, and about the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Display Topic: March
Reporter of Decisions Office
Susan P. Williams, Reporter of Decisions
The Reporter of Decisions is a constitutional officer of the Arkansas Supreme Court. Arkansas Constitution of 1874, Amendment 80, § 2(F) provides: “The Supreme Court shall appoint its clerk and reporter.” The Supreme Court Reporter also serves as Reporter of the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-12-108(b) (Repl. 2010).
In 2009, the Supreme Court directed that publication of the Arkansas Reports and Arkansas Appellate Reports, where decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals have been officially reported since 1837 and 1981, respectively, would be discontinued and thereafter electronic versions of the decisions posted on the Arkansas Judiciary website would be the official report of those decisions. All appellate decisions handed down after February 14, 2009, are officially reported and distributed in electronic form via the Arkansas Judiciary website. Examples of the new citation formats can be found in the Elements of Style, Bryan A. Garner’s A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, Black’s Law Dictionary, C. Edward Good’s Citing and Typing the Law: A Guide to Legal Citations, and our in-house style guide.
Source: https://www.arcourts.gov/courts/supreme-court/reporter
Display Topic:
Veterans Treatment Courts
in Arkansas
Veterans Treatment Court is a voluntary, fourteen-to-eighteen month, multi-phase intervention program for veterans involved in the criminal justice system due to underlying, unmanaged substance use or mental health disorders. Veterans Treatment Courts connect veterans involved in the criminal justice system to benefits and treatment they have earned, saving their lives, families, and futures while effectively preserving tax dollars. Together in a collaborative effort, several local, state, and federal agencies work together to provide substance use and mental health treatment and intensive judicial supervision to assist veterans in achieving healthy, stabilized lifestyles. Veterans Treatment Court involves frequent court appearances, random drug/alcohol testing, group and individual counseling, and intensive community supervision.
Veterans Treatment Courts strive to increase public safety, decrease the incarceration of those with substance use or mental health disorders, and improve the quality of life for veterans, families, and the community.
Source:
https://www.arcourts.gov/courts/circuit-courts/specialty-court-programs/veterans-treatment-court-map
Display Topic: Access to Justice Month
September 30, 2022 Arkansas Supreme Court Declares October Access to Justice Month
The Arkansas Access to Justice Commission (A.A.J.C.) works to ensure justice for all. That means that all Arkansans get the protections of the law. A.A.J.C. researches the unmet legal problems of Arkansans, encourage attorneys to do pro bono work for families who are priced out of the legal market, and recommend evidence-based solutions to policymakers.
A.A.J.C.’s sister nonprofit organization, the Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation, (A.A.J.F) funds the state’s two civil legal aid organizations: The Center for Arkansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Arkansas. Together, their lawyers help more than 13,000 Arkansans yearly with knowing and enforcing their rights and by being their voice in court. Through these approaches, we all work together to achieve fairness and make sure nobody with a legal problem is excluded from justice.
Display Topic: Arkansas Statehood
Previously part of French Louisiana and the Louisiana Purchase, the Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15, 1836.
Arkansas organic act (3 Stat. L. 493), providing for the creation of the Arkansaw Territory on July 4, 1819, from the portion of the Missouri Territory lying south of a point on the Mississippi River at 36 degrees north latitude running west to the St. Francis River, then followed the river to 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, then west to the territorial boundary.[4][5] This included all of the present state of Oklahoma south of the parallel 36°30' north. The westernmost portion of the territory was removed on November 15, 1824, and a second westernmost portion was removed on May 6, 1828, reducing the territory to the extent of the present state of Arkansas.
Originally the western border of Missouri was intended to go due south to the Red River. During negotiations with the Choctaw in 1820, however, Andrew Jackson unknowingly ceded more of Arkansas Territory. Then in 1824, after further negotiations, the Choctaw agreed to move farther west, but only by "100 paces" of the garrison on Belle Point. This resulted in the bend in the common border at Fort Smith.[6]
The territory originally had nine counties: Arkansas, Clark, Crawford, Hempstead, Independence, Lawrence, Miller, Phillips, and Pulaskị.[7]
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Territory ;
Source: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/law-day/
Display Topic: April
Animal Law
Bryan A. Garner, Editor in Chief
Animal law n (1902) 1. The field of law dealing with vertebrates other than humans. * The field cuts across many traditional doctrinal areas (e.g., contracts, torts, administrative law) as well as jurisprudence. Topics include wildlife-management law, laws concerning treatment of laboratory animals, and laws relating to companion animals.
Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019), animal law.
Display Topic: Elbert Hartwell English
Reporter of Decisions, Arkansas Supreme Court Justice
Elbert Hartwell English was one of the most important jurists in Arkansas across a crucial period of legal development and turmoil in the state, including the eras of the Civil War and Reconstruction. In addition to his years of private practice, English served as chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court for a total of twenty years, one of only four chief justices to have served over twelve years in the role.
English juggled newspaper work, private legal practice, and the position of reporter of decisions for the Arkansas Supreme Court. He served as court reporter for nine years, which gave him a deep and intricate knowledge of the Supreme Court and its workings. This led to his appointment by the Arkansas General Assembly to create a digest of laws, better known as English’s Digest of Laws, which was published in 1848 and served as the standard compendium for Arkansas for a decade.
In 1854, English was elected to the position of chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He held this position until 1864, when the temporary collapse of state functions late in the Civil War ended his first period on the court.
Source: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/elbert-hartwell-english-5746/ [Accessed 25 February 2022].
Display Topic: February
African-American History Month
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.
Source: A&E Television Networks. Black History Month: [Online]. Available at: https://www.histroy.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month [Accessed 28 January 2022].
Display Topic: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Monday, January 17, 2022
BY The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica | Last Updated: Nov 17, 2021 |
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, in the United States, holiday (third Monday in January) honoring the achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr. A Baptist minister who advocated the use of nonviolent means to end racial segregation, he first came to national prominence during a bus boycott by African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 and led the 1963 March on Washington. The most influential of African American civil rights leaders during the 1960s, he was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, facilities, and employment, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2021. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Day .
Bill of Rights Day, December 15
Display
Location: North Hall Library Entrance. December 15th is Bill of Rights Day. On December 15, 1791, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, later known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified.
The Constitution might never have been ratified if the framers hadn't promised to add a Bill of Rights. The first ten amendments to the Constitution gave citizens more confidence in the new government and contain many of today's Americans' most valued freedoms.
On Bill of Rights Day in 1952 the Charters of Freedom--the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights went on display together for the first time.
Source: National Archives: https//www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights
Access to Justice Month
Display.
Location: North Hall Library Entrance. Access to Justice Month. The Arkansas Access to justice Commission (A.A.J.C.) works to ensure justice for all. That means that all Arkansans get the protections of the law. A.A.J.C. researches the unmet legal problems of Arkansans, encourage attorneys to do pro bono work for families who are priced out fo the legal market, and recommend evidence-based solutions to policymakers.
A.A.J.C.'s sister nonprofit organization, the Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation, (A.A.J.F.) funds the state's two civil legal aid organizations: The Center for Arkansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Arkansas. Together, their lawyers help more than 13,000 Arkansans yearly with knowing and enforcing their rights and by being their voice in court. Through these approaches we all work together to achieve fairness and make sure nobody with a legal problem is excluded from justice.
Constitution Day Display
Location: North Hall Library Entrance. Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who are born in the U.S. or by naturalization, have become citizens.
Rule of Law Display.