Summary

In Chapter 41, Chancellor Abbott Rumbold had been delaying setting a trial to determine the legality of the transfer of Pete’s land because he was sympathetic to the Bannings. Dunlap did not expect that trial to go well because of Rumbold’s sympathies but planned to appeal the decision in state court. Several residents of Clanton attended the trial out of curiosity. They did not like the way that Jackie was trying to take land away from the Bannings that had been in the family for years. Joel and Stella were particularly upset about being in the courtroom because it was where their father had been electrocuted just eleven months prior.

In his opening statements, Dunlap presented the argument that the Bannings had always passed down their land in their wills. Pete had been the first to do that through a quitclaim...