Browsing: Legal Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

2. The following text of Gridley's and Thacher's arguments is from Quincy, Reports (Appendix) 479–482. See note 1 103 above. Gray pointed to the first paragraph, placing the argument on the second Tuesday of the term, as corroboration of the Keith document's “antiquity and authenticity,” since an order of court at the August term 1759 had provided that “the special pleadings shall come on the second Tuesday in each term.” Id. at 479; see Min. Bk. 71, SCJ Suffolk, Aug. 1759, following N–73. The Massachusetts Spy's version of the Otis argument began with the first sentence of this introduction (erroneously dated Feb. term, 1771), and added that Gridley “endeavoured to support the legality of Writs of Assistance by force of several statutes and precedents in England, but his chief stay he acknowledged was the necessity of the case, and in the course of his arguments he discovered himself to be an ingenious lawyer.” Massachusetts Spy, 29 April 1773, p. 3, col. 1.