1799 PA Supreme Court Writ Signed Thomas McKean – Declaration Signer For Sale

Offered here is an original 1799 Pennsylvania Supreme Court writ, issued under the authority and signed by Thomas McKean, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and, at the time, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

This official court document orders the removal of a case from the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Philadelphia, reflecting early American appellate procedure during the Federal period. The writ is additionally signed by Edmund Burd Jr., confirming its formal issuance.

Dated March 12, 1799, this piece comes from the final year of McKean’s tenure as Chief Justice, making it especially desirable. Large-format laid paper, original docketing, and wafer-seal remnant remain visible.

This is not a clipped signature or fragment, but a complete, government-issued legal instrument tied directly to one of the most important Founding Fathers.

Pennsylvania, ss.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
To the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Westmoreland,
GREETING:

WE being willing, for certain causes, to be certified of a certain action depending before you, or some of you, depending, DO command you, that the action aforesaid, with all things touching the same, before the Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, at the said Supreme Court, to be held at Philadelphia, for the said State, the first Monday of September next, so full and entire as in our Court before you they remain, you certify and send, together with this Writ, that we may further cause to be done thereupon, that which of right, and according to the laws of the said State, ought.

WITNESS the honorable THOMAS McKEAN, Esquire, Doctor of Laws,
Chief Justice of our said Supreme Court, at Philadelphia, the twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine.

Allowed per
Tho. McKean

[Signed]
Edm. Burd, Junr.

Endorsements / Docketing (verso & margins):

Court No. 37
September Term 1799

Lee & Richard Clarkson
vs.
John Bolton & Co.

Certified 37
W. Clark
Westmoreland
Philadelphia

To be answered –
Alex. Addison
Henry Taylor
James Allison
W. Hoge

Thomas McKean (1734–1817)
A central figure of the American Revolution, McKean was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of the Continental Congress, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania (1777–1799), and later Governor of Pennsylvania. His judicial signatures are scarcer than his political correspondence, especially on complete court documents such as this.

Edmund Burd Jr. (1761–1826)
A prominent Pennsylvania lawyer and court official, Burd served as Prothonotary and later as a judge. His signature here authenticates the writ as an official action of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Alexander Addison (1759–1807)
Listed among those ordered to answer the writ, Addison was President Judge of the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania and a controversial but influential Federalist jurist in western Pennsylvania.

• Original 18th-century laid paper

• Folded docketing and court handling wear, as expected

• Partial wafer-seal remnant present

• All text and signatures remain legible

• No restoration

• Declaration signer in active judicial office

• Official Pennsylvania Supreme Court writ

• Early American appellate law

• Large-format, fully intact legal document

• Strong institutional and collector appeal

A museum-worthy legal artifact from the Founding era.