This collection of legal documents–Including admission papers, petitions, affidavits and Last Wills and Testaments—provides a glimpse into the work of the notable personalities who left their mark on Singapore’s legal history. The lawyers who penned many of these documents include Charles Burton Buckley, adviser to the Sultan of Johore and author of the book ‘An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore’ (1902); Sir Thomas Braddell, Crown Counsel, and the first Attorney-General of the Straits Settlements; and William Napier, one of Singapore’s first lawyers and co-founder of ‘Singapore Free Press’, Singapore's second English language newspaper after the ‘Singapore Chronicle’.This collection also documents the economic and other transactions undertaken by ordinary immigrants in 19th century Singapore that tell stories of misfortune and indebtedness which would otherwise have disappeared from history.
