CERTIFICATE. I, WILLIAM B. CONWAY, Secretary of the Territory of Iowa, having compared the following pages with the "engrossed bills" deposited in my office, do hereby certify, that they contain true and correct copies of the Statute Laws and Joint Resolutions passed at the first session of the Legislative Assembly of said Territory, 1838-'39. IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name, this 23d day of July, A. D. 1839. WM. B. CONWAY, PREFATORY NOTE. The subject of reprinting the early laws of Iowa (Territorial and State), has been under discussion for several years. This has arisen from the fact that the very limited early editions have long been out of print and copies can only be obtained with much difficulty and at excessive prices. The matter was brought to the attention of the Legislature last winter, and while no specific plan was adopted, a sufficient sum was appropriated to make a beginning. The subject was carefully considered by the Trustees of the Historical Department, by whom it was referred, with full power to act, to Judges H. E. Deemer and Scott M. Ladd. They determined to reprint 1,000 copies of this first volume of Iowa Territorial Laws. A copy is now available for every public library in our State, leaving a supply for exchanges with other States, and for sale at the cost of production. There are excellent precedents for this enterprise in at least three States of the Middle West-Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin-which long ago reprinted several volumes of their early laws. The republication of this volume will thus place the subject before the people of Iowa for such further legislative action as the public interests may demand. CHARLES ALDRICH, Curator and Secretary. Historical Department of Iowa, Des Moines, Sept. 19, 1900. |