Law Day Celebrated Throughout The Land
On May 1st, Law Day was celebrated in the United States. The day is dedicated to highlighting how law and the legal process contribute to our country’s freedom.
Each year, Law Day has a theme. This year’s 31st annual Law Day honored the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln with the theme: A Legacy of Liberty—Celebrating Lincoln’s Bicentennial. Lincoln is long considered one of America’s greatest presidents, however, before elected, he was a lawyer.
In January, Barak Obama became the 26th lawyer sworn in as president.
Often referred to as “Prairie Lawyer” due to his modest upbringing, Lincoln worked as an attorney for 25 years before becoming president. During his tenure, Lincoln tried over 5,000 cases, including several in the Illinois Supreme Court and one before the U.S. Supreme Court. Lincoln’s most notable case came in 1858 when he successfully defended his client in a murder trial after citing an almanac as judicial notice. Lincoln argued in accordance to the almanac that the moon was too low on the night of the murder for someone to properly identify the assailant, contradicting the testimony of the witness. Based on his argument, the defendant was acquitted. Lincoln’s work in the now famous Illinois v. Armstrong (1858) was pro bono.
The idea for Law Day initiated in 1957, when American Bar Association President, Charles S. Rhyne, envisioned a special day for celebrating the U.S. legal system. In 1958, his vision became a reality when U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established Law Day as “a day of national dedication to the principles of government under law.” In 1968, Congress dedicated May 1st as the official date for celebrating Law Day.
Today, Law Day is celebrated by law firms, businesses, and schools alike. While the day is relatively unknown outside the U.S. and is not a national holiday, it acts as an observance. An observance for what is right and what is fair, and for what is just and what we hold dear: America’s Freedom.
And like Lincoln, who fought for justice while uniting a nation, the Law Offices of Joe Bornstein has been fighting for the rights of Maine’s injured and disabled for nearly 35 years. We are proud to celebrate Law Day, and do so with our forefather in mind. 200 years after the birth of the sixteenth president of the United States, we remember the words of Abraham Lincoln:
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”
For more information on Law Day, please visit: http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/2009/home.shtml.
