Contingent Fee Agreement and Promissory Note of James W. Crain to Stuart & Lincoln,
20 April 18381
Whereas John T. Stuart and Abraham Lincoln have engaged as attorneys in my behalf in a cause now pending in the chancery side
of the Tazewell county circuit court in which I am complainant and the heirs of Lewis F Crain deceased and others are defendants, therefore if I shall succeed to the full extent
of my claim in said case, I promise to pay them, the said Stuart & Lincoln the sum of five hundred dollars; but if I should not succeed in the recovery of the
property mentioned in said cause as having been purchased of Peter Menard, but shall succeed in the recovery of all the ballance named ^claimed^, in said cause, then I promise to pay them the said Stuart & Lincoln the sum of three hundred dollars–2
April 20. 1838–James W Crain[ enclosure
]
04/20/1838Stuart & LincolnPromissory Note of James W. Crain to Stuart & LincolnTremont, April 20– 1838
04/20/1838Stuart & LincolnPromissory Note of James W. Crain to Stuart & LincolnTremont, April 20– 1838
Six months after date I promise to pay Stuart & Lincoln twentyfive dollars for value received—3
Jas W Crain1Abraham Lincoln wrote the text of the continent fee agreement and the date, and he
also penned the text of the promissory note.
2James Crain dismissed the case in September 1838, perhaps after a settlement of some
sort. Unfortunately, there is no record of any settlement or information regarding
the result of the contingency agreement in this case. Continency agreements were somewhat
rare in the practice of law during the first half of the nineteenth-century, but
there were at least fifteen cases that Lincoln handled during his law career in which
he or his partners accepted one.
Daniel W. Stowell et al., eds., The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), 1:55-56; Crain v. Crain et al., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136365.
Copy of Handwritten Document Signed, 1 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Association Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).