A STUDY IN LEGAL ADMINISTRATION AND RECORDS SHARON ...

intellectual, among its parts. Shoemaker's point is partiwlarly pertinent to legal
records. Their value as history, as well as their value in law, depends upon their
order and arrangement, and on their association with related records."
Douglas Hay picked up the theme of court and legal records as sources
for historical writing. He recognized and promoted the modern research
irnperative, cornputer-based data collection and analysis. Since the requirement
for this type of study is complete or nearly complete series of records Hay urged
full retention of court and judicial materials. He also recommended improved
retention of lawyers' papers. Hay disagreed with lawyers' contention that the
law is a logical stnidure, unchanging, and ahistorica~.'~ Instead, he asserted
that the law can be illogical, that it responds to the tenor of the times, and that it
is historically contingent.
A recent study has examined court and legal records as subjects in
themselves, independent from the information contained therein. Juanita
Skillman treated American legal documents as products of actions taken during
litigation. To SkiIlman it was not the contents of the records, but their issue from
differing legal processes that was of importance. She related the sequence of
document production to the sequence of litigation, and thus provided a context
for materials emanating from the functioning of the legal ~ystem.'~
Daisy McColl, in her thesis, examined the institution and development of
the British Columbia court ~ystern.'~ McColl rooted today's courts in the courts
of the British past, and indicated several ways in which the British Columbia