EARLY (FIRST?) USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS EVIDENCE AT AN EQUITY TRIAL: In the House of Lords : on appeal from Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery in England : between Sir John William Ramsden, baronet ... [et al.] appellants, and Lee Dyson, John Buckley, and James Bates, respondents Author: Ramsden, John ... [et. al.].

Two volumes. 4to. With 9 folding albumen prints, each with an original manuscript caption explaining the image and noting the exhibit from the various affidavits, signed by Wm. Dransfield (a commissioner who administered oaths in trial court and who is mentioned in print) and some with the blind-stamp of S. Musgrave, photo-printer. Contemporary cloth, title and date in gilt on spines; interiors and photographs in excellent condition.

First edition. The original case was brought by tenants of Sir John Ramsden, owner of a large estate near Huddersfield. Ramsden had made arrangements with many of his tenants, often without a signed lease, which included terms of tenancies and agreements for the improvement of the properties. After Ramsden died, his heirs sought to nullify many of these arrangements and enter into specific lease terms with all tenants; those that refused were given notices to quit. Two of the tenants sued in equity court claiming proprietary estoppel, that the heirs should be estopped from terminating the original lease arrangements, as they had expended money on improving the land under the belief that they were entitled to the grant of a long lease. The trial court held that the two tenants were entitled to long leases because they had spent their own money in building on the strength of assurances.

The defendants appealed. These volumes contain the appendices submitted to the appellate court by both parties, which include affidavits seeking to prove the circumstances under which various tenants built or otherwise improved their leased sections of the estate. The photographs are used to support that testimony.

Photographs started to wind their way through the court systems (at least in America) in the late 1850's as forensic evidence in criminal cases. The practice of using photographs became more common starting in the 1870's. It is quite possible that the photographs used in Ramsden v. Dyson were one of, if not the earliest use in a non-criminal case, certainly in a court of equity. The images include views of the house and grounds of Respondents and other improvements on adjacent plots. A list of the photographs is available on request.

OCLC locates 1 copy of this two-volume set (SUNY Brockport).