Reade Research Interests

One of the things that I became most interested in while browsing the transcript was the positioning of the notes themselves in that some of the cards seem very straightforward, containing things which are obviously related to the same topic, while others carry a wide range of information that seems only loosely related.  I am particularly curious about what types of things Reade tends to pair with inserts regarding to law.  As several writers have pointed out and is perhaps inferable from Hard Cash, Reade was rather familiar with and interested in law.  Some even go so far as to link this interest with his yearning to write based on fact.  As a man familiar with the law, he does not include many clippings about law and lawyers, but those he does include are rather scattered and specifically geared towards Lunacy Laws instead of law in general.  Im interested to see both what Reade deems necessary to research in regards to the law even with his experience in court and where the law intersects with everything else.

I’m sure there are plenty of random references to law (according to the search function the word appears on 73 pages of the transcript), but some particularly interesting cards appear to be B Dickeybirdiana which holds a description of a trial; 18 R.2 which strangely puts sailing and law side by side; Mat. Fict. 2A which contains an excerpt about Scotch law and an excerpt from La Faupaire; and the Asylums and Lunacy Laws card.  If all else fails, I may just look at random cards to see if Reade has a tendency to put certain subjects together (though searching for such a pattern is undoubtedly a task meant for much more than an afternoon).