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| + | #REDIRECT[[Joseph Smith and legal issues]] |
| − | {{JosephSmithPortal}}
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| − | {{summary}}<br>
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| − | {{question}}
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| − | =={{Question label}}==
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| − | What can you tell me about Joseph Smith's problems with the law?
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| − | {{CriticalSources}}
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| − | =={{Response label}}==
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| − | Entire books have been written on the legal history of the Church in its early days. (See ''Further Reading'' below.) Some specific legal issues are considered in separate wiki articles:
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| − | {{JSLegalWiki}}
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| − | ===Introduction===
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| − | Wrote a leading scholar of Joseph's legal history:
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| − | :Joseph Smith believed that his enemies perverted legal processes, using them as tools of religious persecution against him, as they had been used against many of Christ's apostles and other past martyrs. Although he often gained quick acquittals, numerous "vexatious and wicked" lawsuits consumed his time and assets, leading to several incarcerations and ultimately to his martyrdom. Beginning soon after his ministry began and continuing throughout his life, Joseph Smith was subjected to approximately thirty criminal actions and at least that many civil suits related to debt collection or failed financial ventures.{{ref|eom1}}
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| − | ===Ohio===
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| − | :After the Church moved to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831, several religious-based charges were prosecuted against Smith and other LDS leaders, but were dismissed on the grounds listed following each charge: assault and battery (self-defense), performing marriages without a valid license (one was procured), attempted murder or conspiracy (lack of evidence), and involuntary servitude without compensation during the Zion's Camp military crusade to Missouri (won on appeal). In turn, Church leaders successfully instituted charges and recovered damages for assaults occurring while they were acting in a religious capacity. However, the financial Panic of 1837 swamped the Prophet and others with civil debt-collection litigation. Worse still were suits for violating Ohio banking laws when the [[Kirtland Safety Society]] Anti-Banking Company (see Kirtland Economy) failed soon after it was organized in 1836 without a state charter. Charges of fraud and self-enrichment were raised but not proven; a jury conviction was appealed, but Joseph Smith left Ohio for Missouri before it was heard.{{ref|eom2}}
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| − | ===Missouri===
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| − | :In Missouri, most actions against the Latter-day Saints were extralegal, brought by non-Mormon vigilantes prejudiced against the Saints' opposition to slavery, their collective influx, and Smith's religious teachings concerning modern revelation and the territorial establishment of Zion in Jackson County. Civil magistrates routinely refused to issue peace warrants for Mormons or to redress their personal injuries or property damage. For example, despite being beaten and tarred and feathered and having the printing office destroyed, the LDS printer was awarded less than his legal fees and the Presiding Bishop received "one penny and a peppercorn." All three branches of state government seemed paralyzed or supportive of mob action, as the Saints were repeatedly dispossessed and expelled from county to county.{{ref|eom3}}
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| − | ===Illinois===
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| − | :In 1838-1839 the Saints settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, after their wrongful expulsion from Missouri. To avoid the "legal" persecutions suffered in earlier states, they obtained a liberal [[Nauvoo city charter]] for Nauvoo, which granted broad habeas corpus powers to local courts. These helped to free Joseph Smith and other Latter-day Saints when they were sought on writs by arresting officers from outside of Nauvoo. In 1841 state judge Stephen A. Douglas set aside a Missouri writ to extradite Joseph for charges still pending there, and in 1843 a federal judge did the same for a similar requisition after the alleged shooting of then ex-governor Boggs. However, the increasing use of the writ of habeas corpus by Nauvoo magistrates, preempting even state and federal authority, escalated distrust among non-Mormons who felt that Joseph Smith considered himself above the law.{{ref|eom4}}
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| − | =={{Conclusion label}}==
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| − | Concluded one author at a FAIR conference:
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| − | :Joseph Smith was persecuted in courts of law as much as anyone I know. But he was never found guilty of any crime, and his name cannot be tarnished in that way.{{ref|fair1}}
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| − | =={{Endnotes label}}==
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| − | #{{note|eom1}}{{EoM|author=Joseph I. Bentley|article=Legal Trials of Joseph Smith|vol=3|start=1346|end=1347}}{{link|url=http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/people/joseph_smith/legal_trials.html}}
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| − | #{{note|eom2}}{{EoM|author=Joseph I. Bentley|article=Legal Trials of Joseph Smith|vol=3|start=1346|end=1347}}{{link|url=http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/people/joseph_smith/legal_trials.html}}
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| − | #{{note|eom3}}{{EoM|author=Joseph I. Bentley|article=Legal Trials of Joseph Smith|vol=3|start=1346|end=1347}}{{link|url=http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/people/joseph_smith/legal_trials.html}}
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| − | #{{note|eom4}}{{EoM|author=Joseph I. Bentley|article=Legal Trials of Joseph Smith|vol=3|start=1346|end=1347}}{{link|url=http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/people/joseph_smith/legal_trials.html}}
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| − | #{{note|fair1}} Joseph I. Bentley, "Legal Trials of the Prophet: Joseph Smith's Life in Court" (2006 FAIR Conference presentation) {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/2006_Legal_Trials_of_Joseph_Smith.html}}{{NB}}
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| − | =={{Further reading label}}==
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| − | ==={{FAIR wiki articles label}}===
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| − | {{JSLegalWiki}}
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| − | ==={{FAIR web site label}}===
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| − | {{JSLegalFAIR}}
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| − | ==={{Video label}}===
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| − | {{Video:Bentley:2006:Legal Trials of the Prophet}}
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| − | ==={{External links label}}===
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| − | {{JSLegalLinks}}
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| − | ==={{Printed material label}}===
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| − | {{JSLegalPrint}}
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| − | [[de:Joseph_Smith_und_Gerichtsverfahren]]
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| − | {{Articles Footer 1}} {{Articles Footer 2}} {{Articles Footer 3}} {{Articles Footer 4}} {{Articles Footer 5}} {{Articles Footer 6}} {{Articles Footer 7}} {{Articles Footer 8}} {{Articles Footer 9}} {{Articles Footer 10}}
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| − | [[fr:Joseph Smith/Legal trials]]
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