Legal Culture and Community on the Great Plains: State of Nebraska v. John Burley

State of Nebraska v. John Burley was the first criminal trial in Lincoln County, Nebraska, and the first criminal appeal reviewed by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The legal proceedings surrounding this case indicate that the early citizens of nascent Great Plains communities shared an understanding of the law and its institutions that allowed for the immediate implementation of courts, law enforcement, and jails. A shared legal culture derived from New England and Midwestern states enabled new communities to uphold traditions of law and order, even in the "wild and wooly" climes of the Great Plains frontier.