Edmunds Law & Unlawful Cohabitation (1885)

The full title of this court case printed through the Juvenile Instructor Office was: "The Edmunds Law - Unlawful Cohabitation as Defined by Chief Justice Chas. S. Zane of the Territory of Utah on the Trial of Angus M. Cannon, Esq. in the Third District Court, Salt Lake City; Full Report of the Arguments as to the Term 'Cohabitation' in the Above Law. This book was distributed to the Saints quickly following the Trial of Angus M. Cannon to inform them how polygamist activities would be judged by the courts under the direction of the Utah Commission. The Trial of Angus M. Cannon (President of the Salt Lake City Stake) was one of the primary test cases of the recently enacted Edmunds Act. For the first time, Congress had officially declared that the Saints were to be actively punished for polygamy or "unlawful Cohabitation. The initial definition of unlawful cohabitation had been fuzzy and Charles S. Zane, the Chief Justice of the Territory, was given the task of its clarification in the trial of President Cannon. This book relates the court reporting of both the defense and the prosecution of the case as well as the official pronouncements of Chief Justice Zane. Following the government's claims against Cannon are the abbreviated cases of A. Milton Musser and James C. Watson. 118 pages