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GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION

Mark D. Engsberg
Karl Finley
Sharon Fischlowitz
Jonathan Flanders
Lisa Florey
Robert A. Frame
John E. Gisselquist
Russell L. Gray III
Frederick K. Grittner
Victoria L. Handler
Halle Butler Hara
Lauri R. Harding
Heidi L. Headlee
James Heidberg
Clifford P. Hooker
Marianne Ashley Jerpbak
David R. Johnstone
Andrew Kass
Margaret Anderson Kelliher
Christopher J. Kennedy
Anne E. Kevlin
John K. Krol
Lauren Kushkin
Ann T. Laughlin
Laura Ledsworth-Wang
Linda Lincoln
Theresa J. Lippert
Gregory Luce
David Luiken
Frances T. Lynch

Anne Welsbacher
Eric P. Wind
Lindy T. Yokanovich
XV
v
BEAN, ROY
Roy Bean achieved prominence for his uncon-
ventional law enforcement procedures. His
methods for enforcing the law were question-
able and unorthodox.
Bean was born circa 1825, in Mason
County, Kentucky. His career included many
undertakings, not always legal. In 1847 he was
in charge of a trading post in Me xico. Accused
of cattle rustling in 1849, he was forced back to
the Unite d States. He was a member of a group
of vigilantes who fought for the Confederacy
during the
CIVIL WAR. Bean was a saloonkeep er
and a gambler in the postwar years. In 1882
Bean settled in Texas.
He changed the name of the Texas camp
where he lived from Vinegaroon to Langtry and
established himself as
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.His
saloon was the courthouse where Bean presided
as judge, using a law book, a gun, his sense of
humor, and practical thinking as his guides to
making judicial decisions. Bean died March 16,
1903, in Langtry.

manage a trading post
1845 Texas
admitted to the Union
1849 Accused of
cattle rustling;
returned to U.S.
1861–65 U.S. Civil
War; member of
Confederate vigilante
fighting group
1903 Died,
Langtry, Tex.
▼▼
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1825
1900
1875
1850
◆
1882 Became justice
of the peace for Pecos
County, Tex.
B
(cont.)
THAT’S MY RULIN’.
—ROY BEAN
1
the University of Oxford. While at Oxford, he
helped establish Ruskin Hall, a college for
British working men that represented to Beard

Although several U.S. politicians criticized
Beard’s unorthodox view of U.S. history, many
of his colleagues praised his innovative ap-
proach. They understood how the private
economic interests of the colonial
RULING class
could have had a far-reaching effect on the
nascent U.S. government.
In 1917 Beard protes ted the firing of several
Columbia University faculty members by
resigning his own position. Beard had been
outraged when the university dismissed his
colleagues for their refusal to support the
United States’ involvement in
WORLD WAR I.In
1919 he helped found the New School for Social
Research in New York City.
In 1927 Beard produced another remark-
able tome, The Rise of American Civilization.
Coauthored by hi s wif e, it p rov ided an
overview of U.S. history with further insights
into the government’sorigins.Thissprawling,
two-volume set was fo llowed by America in
Charles Austin Beard 1874–1948
◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆
❖
❖
1874 Born,
Knightstown, Ind.
1904 Received Ph.D. from Columbia

World War II
1946 American Foreign Policy in the
Making, 1932–1940 published
1948 Died,
New Haven,
Conn.
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19501950
19251925
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Charles Austin Beard.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
2 BEARD, CHARLES AUSTIN
Midpassage, in 1939, and The American Spirit,
in 1942.
During the early 1930s Beard wrote exten-
sively about the nature of historical knowledge.
He was particularly interested in historians’
personal biases and the effect of those biases on
the presentation of historical facts.
Although Beard was closely associate d with
the U.S. progressive movement and social
reforms, he disagreed with several aspects of
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
NEW DEAL programs. In
1934 he began an acrimonious, decade-long
campaign against Roosevelt’s foreign policy. In

specific payee is not designated.
A
NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT that is payable to
“bearer” or to “cash” or to “the order of cash,”
that is, not naming a payee, is a bearer
instrument, and is called “bearer” paper.
v
BEASLEY, MERCER
Mercer Beasley was an eminent New Jersey
jurist. He was born March 27, 1815, in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Frederick and
Maria Beasley. He studied at the College of New
Jersey (now Princeton) but only for a year, after
which he studied the law. He was admitted to
the bar in 1838 and established a successful legal
practice in Trenton, New Jersey. He became
active in local politics, first as a Whig and later
as a Democrat, before pursuing a career in the
judicial system.
On March 8, 1864, the governor appointed
Beasley to a seven -year term as the New Jersey
high court’s chief justice. Four succeeding gov-
ernors retained him, allowing Beasley to serve
on the bench for almost 33 years. He gained
prominence for his equitable decisions, particu-
larly those concerning political dissent.
Beasley died from pneumonia on February
19, 1897, in Trenton.
v
BECCARIA, CESARE BONESANO,

Court:
Delaware &
Raritan Coal
Co. v. Lee
1850 Ran
unsuccessfully
for mayor of
Trenton
1858 Appointed
chancery reporter
for New Jersey
1861–65
Civil War
1864 Appointed chief
justice of New Jersey
1876 Centennial year of
United States; Colorado
joined the Union
1896 Utah
became 45th state
in the Union
1897 Died,
Trenton, N.J.
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merchant and his wife who were of Norman
ancestry. He was first educated at a monastery
in Merton, just outside London, and then in
London grammar schools. In his late teens, he
was sent to Paris for further schooling, includ-
ing the study of logic, rhetoric, and philosophy.
At age twenty-one, after his mother had died
and his father had lost his fortune, Becket
returned to London and became a city clerk to
three sheriffs. Three years later, in about 1143,
his father introduced him to Theobald, arch-
bishop of Canterbury. Becket soon joined
Theobald’s household, becoming a clerk and
later a close adviser to the archbishop. In about
1150, Theobald sent Becket to Italy and France
to study civil and
CANON LAW. Upon his return to
Theobald’s court in 1152, Becket was able to
secure the papal letters that prevented the
English king Stephen from crowning his son
to be successor to the throne . Becket’s interven-
tion permitted Henry II, in 1154, to become the
king of England.
In the same year, Theobald appointed
Becket archdeacon of Canterbury. Less than
three months later, on Theobald’s recommen-
dation and in gratitude for Becket’srolein
helping him to gain the throne, Henry II named
Becket chancellor of England.
Becket became the king’s most trusted

in Italy to Austria
1738 Born,
Milan, Italy
1764 Essay on Crimes and
Punishments published
1768 Appointed professor of
political philosophy
1771 Served
as councilor
of state and
magistrate
1790 Served on
committee that
advocated criminal
and civil law reform
in Lombardy (Italy)
1789 French
Revolution began
1794 Died,
Milan, Italy
1796–97
Napoleon's
Italian
campaign
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also face secular penalties imposed by the civil
courts. However, under intense pressure from
the monarchy, Becket eventually relented and
agreed verbally to Henry’s proposals.
In January 1164 Henry summoned a
convocation at Clarendon, where he planned
to put his reforms into a document known as
the
CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON, and to secure
Becket’s signature. But at the last minute,
Becket repudiated his previous verbal agree-
ment to the measures and refused to sign the
documents, on the grounds that they violated
canon law. Becket’s defiance incurred the wrath
of the king, who denounced him as a traitor to
the throne. Henry then threatened to imprison
Becket or at least force him to resign as
archbishop. Becket, fearing for his safety, fled
to France in late 1164 and remained in exile at
Flanders for the next six years. In France, Becket
struck back at Henry by excommunicating
several of his councilors and threatening to
excommunicate the king as well.
In 1169 Henry and Becket attempted a
reconciliation, but Henry soon incensed Becket
by having Roger, the archbishop of York and a
rival of Becket’s, crown Prince Henry as his
successor. Such coronations were traditionally
undertaken by the archbishop of Canterbury.
Becket retaliated by suspending Roger and

London, England
1135 Stephen crowned
King of England
1140 Became clerk
to three sheriffs
1143 Joined household of Theobald,
Archbishop of Canterbury
1150 Theobald
sent Becket to
Italy and
France to
study civil and
canon law
1154 Henry II crowned King of
England; Becket named chancellor
1161
Theobald died
1162
Appointed
archbishop of
Canterbury
1164 Convocation at Clarendon;
Becket fled to France
1170 Returned to Canterbury;
murdered in Canterbury cathedral
1173 Canonized
by Pope Alexander II
1189 King
Henry II died
▼▼

the basis for Chaucer’s masterpiece Canterbury
Tales, which was written almost two hundred
years after Becket’s death.
In 1538 Henry VIII became embroiled in his
own struggles with the church and viewed the
pilgrimages to Becket’s tomb with increasing
hostility. As a result, he had the shrine destroyed
and repor tedly had Becket’s bones burned.
FURTHER READINGS
Barlow, Frank. 1986. Thomas Becket. Berkeley: Univ. of
California Press.
Knowles, David. 1971. Thomas Becket. Stanford, Calif.:
Stanford Univ. Press.
Staunton, Michael. 2001. The Lives of Thomas Becket. New
York: Manchester Univ. Press.
v
BEECHER, HENRY WARD
Henry Ward Beecher was one of the most
prominent U.S. ministers of the nineteenth
century as well as an active participant in
various reform movements.
Beecher was born June 24, 1813, in Litch-
field, Connecticut. He was the son of preacher
Lyman Beecher and the brother of
HARRIET
BEECHER STOWE
, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin . He
studied at Amherst College and Lane Theologi-
cal Seminary and served as a novice minister in
Indiana before becoming minister at the Ply-

1863 Went on
lecture tour of
England
1884 Joined
Republican
Mugwumps
campaigning for
Grover Cleveland
1887 Died,
Brooklyn, N.Y.
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IT USUALLY TAKES A
HUNDRED YEARS TO
MAKE A LAW
, AND
THEN
, AFTER IT HAS
DONE ITS WORK
, IT
USUALLY TAKES A

knowledge, as contrasted with belief, is the
clear per ception of existing facts.
Belief has been defined as having faith in an
idea or formulating a conclusion as the result of
considering information.
INFORMATION AND BELIEF
is a legal term that is used to describe an
allegation based upon
GOOD FAITH rather than
firsthand knowledge.
v
BELL, DERRICK ALBERT, JR.
Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was the first tenured
black law professor at Harvard Law School,
a renegade civil rights scholar and proponent
and a prolific author of civil rights-related
works, including the critically acclaimed books
And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for
Racial Justice (1987) and Faces at the Bottom of
the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992).
Bell was born November 6, 1930, in
Pittsburgh. The seeds of his views on racial
injustice—and his response to racial bigotry
and prejudice—were sown in the Great Depres-
sion. When he was five years old, he watched
his mother, Ada Elizabeth Bell, demand that
the family’s landlord fix the rotted stairs behind
their apartment. His mother finally told the
Derrick A. Bell Jr.
NEVILLE ELDER/CORBIS.

1981–85 Served as
dean of U. of Oregon
School of Law
1987 And
We Are
Not Saved
published
2004 Silent
Covenants published
◆
2002 Ethical Ambition
published
◆
1996 NYU Law School established
annual Derrick Bell Lecture on Race
in American Society
◆
1994 Confronting Authority published
◆
1991 Appointed visiting
professor at NYU Law School
◆
1990 Took unpaid leave of
absence from Harvard to protest
adverse minority hiring practices
◆
1971 Became
first tenured
African American
faculty member at