In force, Feb.[February] 22, 1839.
AN ACT making an appropriation for a library for the use of the Legislature and Supreme Court.
1$5,000 for library.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to
the purpose of paying for a law and miscellaneous library, for the use of the Legislature and Supreme Court of this State; and the Auditor of Public Accounts shall issue his warrant to the proper persons,
upon the treasury, for the said sum.
Duty of judges of S. C. and Governor.
Sec. 3. The Judges of the Supreme Court and the Governor are hereby authorized and requested to make the selection of the
books herein provided for, and to receive the money in the foregoing section appropriated,
and therewith pay for the said books. And the Judges and Governor are hereby required
to provide for the safe-keeping of said books until the next session of the General Assembly; and that they also report their actings and doings in the premises, and such rules
for the government and use of said books, as they may deem expedient.2
Approved, February 22, 1839.
1On January 14, 1839, William H. Davidson introduced SB 76 in the Senate. On January 18, the Senate voted down the bill by a vote of 15 yeas to 20 nays; however,
the Senate then reconsidered the vote and the bill was laid on the table. On February
9, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 23 yeas to 15 nays. On February 20, the
House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 38 yeas to 25 nays; Abraham Lincoln did not vote on the bill. On February 22, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess.,
376, 442, 465, 479; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 163, 173, 184, 303, 375-376, 387.
2In January 1841, the General Assembly considered a bill to repeal this act. In 1849, the General Assembly made a similar appropriation, and it would continue to appropriate sums for law libraries
through the 1850s.
“An Act to authorise the purchase of books for the use of the supreme court,” 13 April
1849, Laws of the State of Illinois (1849), 57.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1839), 149, GA Session: 11-1,