Documents for "Law: Biographies":

• Allen, William 1704-80, American jurist, b. Philadelphia. He and his father-in-law, Andrew Hamilton, decided the choice of Philadelphia instead of Chester as provincial capital, and he helped finance the building...

• Ames, James Barr 1846-1910, American jurist, b. Boston, grad. Harvard Law School, 1873. At Harvard he became associate professor (1873), professor (1877), and dean (1895). A disciple of C. C. Langdell , Ames insisted that legal education should require the study of actual cases instead of abstract principles of law. He was instrumental in introducing the case method in the teaching of law, a...

• Anson, Sir William Reynell 1843-1914, English jurist. He was a founder of the school of law at Oxford Univ. From 1899 to his death he sat in Parliament as a member for Oxford. His Principles of the English Law of Contract (1879)...

• Austin, John 1790-1859, English jurist. He served (1826-32) as professor of jurisprudence at the Univ. of London, and his lectures were published (with additional material) as The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832, repr. 1967, 3 vol.) and Lectures on Jurisprudence (1869, 5th ed. 1911). These books presented a comprehensive analysis of the principles underlying all legal systems. Austin argued that law was the expression of the will of the sovereign authority...

• Baldwin, Simeon Eben 1840-1927, American jurist and politician, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale, 1861. He taught at Yale from 1869 to 1919, serving as a professor of law after 1872. His teaching and financial aid...

• Barbosa, Ruy 1849-1923, Brazilian jurist, writer, and statesman. He was largely responsible for the republican constitution of Brazil and was the champion of law and liberty under recurrent dictatorships. A...

• Baylor, Robert Emmett Bledsoe 1793?-1873, American jurist, founder of Baylor Univ., b. Kentucky. He served in the War of 1812, studied law, and served in the Kentucky legislature. Moving (1820) to Alabama, he served in the...

• Beaumanoir, Philippe de Remi, sire de c.1250-1296, French poet and jurist, a writer of medieval law texts. He was a judicial officer at Clermont and Senlis. His Coutumes de Beauvoisis [customary laws of the region of Beauvais] is an important...

• Binney, Horace 1780-1875, American lawyer, b. Philadelphia. A leading lawyer in Pennsylvania, Binney was appointed in 1808 a director of the First Bank of the United States. He served in Congress from 1833 to...

• Blackstone, Sir William 1723-80, English jurist. At first unsuccessful in legal practice, he turned to scholarship and teaching. He became (1758) the first Vinerian professor of law at Oxford, where he inaugurated courses...

• Bluntschli, Johann Kaspar 1808-81, Swiss jurist and political scientist. Trained at the Univ. of Berlin, he taught law at Zürich, Munich, and Heidelberg. He expounded the organic theory of the state in Allgemeines Staatsrecht (2 vol., 1851-52; partial tr. 1892), carrying the theory to a complete equation of the life of a state and the life of a person. In Deutsches Privatrecht [German private law] (2 vol., 1853-54), he attempted to contrast the indigenous elements in German law with those derived from Roman law. Bluntschli was of some political importance in Baden as a...

• Bork, Robert Heron 1927-, American jurist, b. Pittsburgh. He received his law degree from the Univ. of Chicago in 1953, and served as professor of law at Yale Univ. (1962-73, 1977-81), U.S. Solicitor General...

• Bouvier, John 1787-1851, American writer on law, b. France. He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1802 with his parents and later was a lawyer and journalist in Pennsylvania. His Law Dictionary (1839), compiled especially...

• Bracton, Henry de d. 1268, English writer on law. He was the author of De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae [on the laws and customs of England], a broad, philosophic treatise that is often called the most important...

• Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques 1694-1748, Swiss jurist. His chief works are Principes du droit naturel [principles of natural law] (1747) and Principes du droit politique [principles of political law] (1751). He attempted to demonstrate the reality of natural law by tracing its origin in God's rule and in human reason and moral instinct. He believed that both...

• Bustamante, Antonio Sánchez de 1865-1951, Cuban authority on international law, author of the Bustamante Code. A delegate to the Paris Peace Conference (1919), he was later justice of the Hague Tribunal (Permanent Court of...

• Bynkershoek, Cornelius van 1673-1743, Dutch writer on international law. His De dominio maris [on the rule of the seas] (1702, tr. 1923) is a classic on maritime law, and he also wrote on diplomatic rights and, in Quaestiones...

• Charondas 6th cent. BC, Sicilian lawgiver, a native of Catana. His laws, which were admired by Aristotle, were used by the cities of Chalcidian foundation in Sicily and Italy.

• Chew, Benjamin 1722-1810, American public official and judge, b. Anne Arundel co., Md. He read law in Philadelphia under Andrew Hamilton and was admitted (1746) to the bar. After practicing law at New Castle and...

• Clark, Walter 1846-1924, American jurist, b. Halifax co., N.C., grad. Univ. of North Carolina (A.B., 1864; A.M., 1867). He entered the Confederate army at 15 and was commended for gallantry in action at Antietam...

• Cobb, Thomas Reade Rootes 1823-62, American lawyer, b. Jefferson co., Ga.; brother of Howell Cobb. Admitted to the bar in 1842, he edited 20 volumes of the Georgia supreme court reports (1849-57), prepared A Digest of the Statute Laws of the State of Georgia (1851), and compiled (1858-61) a new state criminal code. Cobb was a militant secessionist. In the Georgia secession convention he was chairman of the committee that wrote a new state constitution...

• Cooley, Thomas McIntyre 1824-98, American jurist, b. near Attica, N.Y. He was a judge (1864-85) of the supreme court of Michigan and was the first chairman (1887-91) of the Interstate Commerce Commission. His best-known...

• Coudert, Frederic René 1832-1903, American lawyer and public official, b. New York City. He practiced law in New York City and for many years was counsel in the United States for the French, Italian, and Spanish...

• Cowper, William 1731-1800, English poet. Physically and emotionally unfit for the professional life, he was admitted to the bar but never practiced. After a battle with insanity, Cowper retired to the country,...

• Cujas, Jacques 1522-90, French jurist and scholar of Roman law. He taught at Toulouse, Bourges, and elsewhere. Unlike previous scholars, he was relatively unconcerned with the practical applications of Roman law...

• Cushing, Luther Stearns 1803-56, American lawyer, b. Lunenburg, Mass., grad. Harvard Law School, 1826. His best-known work is his short Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1844; many later editions), usually known as Cushing's...

• Darrow, Clarence Seward 1857-1938, American lawyer, b. Kinsman, Ohio. He first practiced law in Ashtabula, Ohio. In 1888 he moved to Chicago, where he was corporation counsel for several years and conducted the cases that...

• Daumat, Jean see Domat, Jean.

• Davis, George Breckenridge 1847-1914, American army officer and jurist, b. Ware, Mass., grad. West Point, 1871. His early military service was divided between duty on the Western frontier and teaching at West Point. Davis...

• Dillon, John Forrest 1831-1914, American jurist, b. Montgomery co., N.Y., M.D. State Univ. of Iowa, 1850. He abandoned medical practice early in his career and was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1852. Dillon was an Iowa...

• Dodd, Samuel Calvin Tate 1836-1907, American lawyer, b. Franklin, Pa. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1859. Dodd was employed by the Rockefeller interests and is credited with devising the business trust arrangement by which John D. Rockefeller was able to consolidate control of many companies engaged in producing oil. Dodd strongly opposed the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890). He organized (1899) the...

• Domat, Jean 1625-96, French jurist. His Les Loix civiles dans leur ordre naturel [civil laws in their natural order] (3 vol., 1689-94) is a restatement of Roman law considered as a system derived from ethical theory and natural theology. It is believed to be the earliest work...

• Dos Passos, John Randolph 1844-1917, American lawyer, b. Philadelphia. He was admitted to the bar in 1865 and moved (1867) to New York City, where he conducted his practice. His Treatise on the Law of Stockbrokers and Stock...

• Draco or Dracon , fl. 621 BC, Athenian politician and law codifier. Of his codification of Athenian customary law only the section dealing with involuntary homicide is preserved. From this and from later accounts...

• Durandus, Gulielmus 1237?-1296, French canon jurist and theologian. Educated at the Univ. of Bologna, he served several 13th-century popes in various capacities including those of governor of the papal territories of...

• Dwight, Theodore William 1822-92, American lawyer, b. Catskill, N.Y., grad. Hamilton College, 1840. He studied at Yale law school and was admitted to the bar in 1845. He was professor of law and later head of the law...

• Dworkin, Ronald 1931-, American legal philosopher. b. Worcester, Mass. A professor at Yale University Law School (1962-69) and then professor of philosophy and jurisprudence in a joint appointment with New York...

• Emmet, Thomas Addis 1764-1827, Irish-American lawyer, b. Cork, Ireland, grad. Trinity College, Dublin, 1782; brother of Robert Emmet. He was trained in medicine at the Univ. of Edinburgh but abandoned that field for...

• Erskine, John 1695-1768, Scottish jurist and professor (1737-65) of Scots law in the Univ. of Edinburgh. He is best known for his authoritative Institutes of the Law of Scotland (1754). His Principles of the Law...

• Farrar, Edgar Howard 1849-1922, American lawyer, b. Concordia, La. He made his home in New Orleans, where he had a large corporation practice. He was active in municipal reform movements and in the founding of Tulane...

• Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm von 1775-1833, German jurist; father of Ludwig Feuerbach. His work was in the field of criminal law. In Kritik des natürlichen Rechts [critique of natural law] (1796) he argued that law was the positive mandate of the state and was not to be confused with natural morality. His Revision der Grundsätze und Grundbegriffe des positiven peinlichen Rechts [revision of the principles and rules of positive criminal law] (1799) ascribed a dual role to the penal law: it should protect society by deterring crime through the threat of finely adjusted...

• Field, David Dudley 1805-94, American lawyer and law reformer, b. Haddam, Conn.; brother of Cyrus W. Field and Stephen J. Field. He was graduated from Williams (1825), studied law in Albany and New York City, was admitted to the bar in 1828, and soon had a large practice in New York City. After the Civil War he argued...

• Fortescue, Sir John c.1394-1476, English jurist. A supporter of the Lancastrian king Henry VI, he was chief justice of the Court of King's Bench from 1442 until 1461, when Henry was deposed by the Yorkist Edward IV...

• Fry, Sir Edward 1827-1918, English lawyer. In 1877 he was made a judge of the high court of justice, and he served (1883-92) as judge of the court of appeal. Later he arbitrated several important international...

• Gaius fl. 2d cent., Roman jurist. He is known for the Institutes (repr., 2 vol., 1967; Vol. I is a translation of the text, Vol. II consists of commentaries), a legal textbook that contributed materially to modern knowledge of early Roman law. It was much used...

• Gentili, Alberico 1552-1608, Italian writer on international law. Forced to leave Italy because of his Protestantism, he went to England (1580), where he became regius professor of civil law, Oxford, and in 1605...

• Gibson, John Bannister 1780-1853, American jurist, b. Westover Mills, Pa.; nephew of the American frontiersman John Gibson. He studied law, was unsuccessful in practice, and served (1810-12) with distinction in the state...

• Glanvill, Ranulf de d. 1190, English jurist. He served Henry II in many offices, finally as chief justiciar after 1180. He commissioned one of the great works of English law, the Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus...

• Godefroy family of French scholars. Denis Godefroy, 1549-1622, was a Calvinist who fled (c.1580) to Geneva and later became a professor of law at Strasbourg and Heidelberg. He compiled an edition (1583) of...

• Gray, John Chipman 1839-1915, American lawyer and teacher, b. Brighton, Mass. A graduate of Harvard Law School (1861), he served in the Civil War and then entered law practice in Boston; in 1869 he began teaching at...

• Greenleaf, Simon 1783-1853, American legal writer, b. Newburyport, Mass. A member of the Maine bar, he won a high reputation for legal scholarship early in his career. With the admission (1820) of Maine as a state,...

• Grotius, Hugo 1583-1645, Dutch jurist and humanist, whose Dutch name appears as Huigh de Groot. He studied at the Univ. of Leiden and became a lawyer when 15 years old. In Dutch political affairs Grotius...

• Hadley, Herbert Spencer 1872-1927, American lawyer, b. Olathe, Kans. As attorney general of Missouri (1905-9), he successfully prosecuted the Standard Oil Company for violating the state antitrust law. He was governor of...

• Hale, Sir Matthew 1609-76, English jurist. He was successively a judge in the Court of Common Pleas (1654), chief baron of the Exchequer (1660), and chief justice of the Court of King's Bench (1671). Because of his...

• Hand, Learned 1872-1961, American jurist, b. Albany, N.Y. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1896. He was a judge of the U.S. District Court for New York's Southern District (1909-24) and of the federal...

• Hart, Herbert Lionel Adolphus 1907-, British legal philosopher. A lawyer and trained philosopher, Hart subjected legal concepts to scrutiny in such works as The Concept of Law (1961) and Law, Liberty, and Morality (1963). Hart argued that law is premised on the notion of duty as the support of civic and societal existence and that law is not based on any moral code, so it is improper to legislate on matters...

• Hastings, Serranus Clinton 1814-93, American judge, b. Jefferson co., N.Y. He was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1836 and moved to Iowa soon afterward. He served in the first Iowa territorial legislature and in 1846 became...

• Hays, Arthur Garfield 1881-1954, American lawyer, b. Rochester, N.Y. He was admitted (1905) to the bar and practiced in New York City. He was active in many cases concerned with civil liberties; he distinguished himself...

• Holdsworth, Sir William Searle 1871-1944, British legal historian. He was (1903-8) professor of constitutional law at University College, London. After 1922 he was Vinerian professor of English law at Oxford. Holdsworth's...

• Hotman, François 1524-90, French jurist. Converted (1547) to Protestantism and implicated (1560) in the conspiracy of Amboise (see Amboise, conspiracy of ), he spent large parts of his life in Switzerland. In his most...

• Irnerius c.1055-c.1130, Italian jurist and founder of the law school (c.1088) at Bologna, which became the center of legal scholarship in Europe. Though little is known of his early life, it is generally...

• Jessup, Philip Caryl 1897-1986, American authority on international law, b. New York City, grad. Hamilton College, 1919, LL.B. Yale, 1924, Ph.D. Columbia, 1927. He was admitted (1925) to the bar, and from 1925 to 1961...

• Kames, Henry Home, Lord 1696-1782, Scottish judge and philosopher. A man of broad interests and a wide-ranging intellect, his works included dissertations on Scottish law, agriculture, and problems of moral and aesthetic...

• Kent, James 1763-1847, American jurist, b. near Brewster, N.Y. He was admitted to the bar in 1785 and began practice in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Active in the Federalist party, he served several terms in the New...

• La Fontaine, Henri 1854-1943, Belgian jurist and statesman. A senator from 1894 to 1936, he headed the International Peace Bureau from 1907 and was awarded the 1913 Nobel Peace Prize. His writings on international...

• Langdell, Christopher Columbus 1826-1906, American teacher of law, b. New Boston, N.H. He practiced in New York City from 1854 to 1870, when he was appointed Dane professor of law at Harvard; in 1875 he became dean of Harvard...

• Lawrence, William Beach 1800-1881, American political leader and jurist, b. New York City. He was appointed secretary of the legation in Great Britain in 1826 and was made (1827) chargé d'affaires. In 1829 he returned to...

• Leicester, Thomas William Coke, earl of see Coke, Thomas William.

• Lindsey, Benjamin Barr (Ben Lindsey), 1869-1943, American judge and reformer, b. Jackson, Tenn. As judge of the juvenile court of Denver from 1900 to 1927, he founded the American juvenile court system, for which he won...

• Littleton, Sir Thomas 1422?-1481, English jurist. He became a sergeant-at-law, i.e., a barrister, in the Court of Common Pleas in 1453 and a judge in 1466. He is best known for his Tenures, a short work in French on the types of estates in land in England. The work, one of the earliest printed books in England, was much admired for its concise and simple quality. In the much-expanded...

• Lyttelton, Sir Thomas see Littleton, Sir Thomas.

• Maitland, Frederic William 1850-1906, English legal historian, educated at Cambridge. A thorough scholar, he founded the Selden Society for the publication of early English documents and edited many texts himself, such as...

• Mansfield, William Murray, 1st earl of 1705-93, English jurist. As solicitor general (1742-54) he prosecuted the Scottish rebel lords, Balmerino (Arthur Elphinstone), Kilmarnock, and Lovat. In 1756 he was raised to the peerage and made...

• Martens, Feodor 1845-1909, Russian diplomat and authority on international law. He became an official in the foreign ministry in 1868 and was professor of international law at the Univ. of St. Petersburg from...

• Martens, Georg Friedrich von 1756-1821, German writer on international law, b. Hamburg. He was professor of international law at Göttingen (1783-89), a state councilor of Westphalia (1808-13), and the representative of the...

• Martin, François Xavier 1762-1846, American jurist, b. Marseilles, France. He emigrated to the United States (c.1786) and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1789. He held federal positions as judge for Mississippi...

• May, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Farnborough 1815-86, English constitutional jurist and historian. A period of long service to Parliament, including his tenure (1871-86) as clerk of the House of Commons, led to his great Treatise upon the Law,...

• Modestinus, Herennius fl. c.AD 250, Roman jurist; student of Ulpian. Under the Roman Empire he was one of the five jurists, including Papinian , whose views were considered decisive in resolving legal controversies. Extensive...

• Moore, John Bassett 1860-1947, American authority on international law, b. Smyrna, Del. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1883. He was (1885-86) a law clerk in the Dept. of State and was (1886-91) an Assistant...

• Norton, Eleanor Holmes 1937-, African-American lawyer and government official. As an attorney (1965-70) for the American Civil Liberties Union , she specialized in First Amendment cases. She later headed New York City's Human Rights Commission (1970-77) and the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (1977-83), and taught at...

• Papinian (Aemilius Papinianus) , d. 212, Roman jurist. He was a close friend of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus , under whom he was libellorum magister [master of the rolls] and later Praetorian prefect; but Severus' son Caracalla had Papinian put to death for reasons that are obscure. Papinian was a jurist of enormous erudition, perhaps the greatest figure in Roman law , and a stern moralist. A constitution of Theodosius II and Valentinian (426) reflects the Roman attitude toward him: five jurists (and the authors whom they quoted) were set up as the sole...

• Paulus (Julius Paulus) , fl. c.200, Roman jurist. He was extremely prolific and is thought to have written some 300 books. His surviving work displays keen analysis of the opinions of other jurists and trenchant...

• Pollock, Sir Frederick 1845-1937, English jurist, b. London. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and was admitted to the bar in 1871. He succeeded to his baronetcy in 1888. Pollock was (1883-1903) professor of...

• Pound, Roscoe 1870-1964, American jurist, b. Lincoln, Nebr. He studied (1889-90) at Harvard law school, but never received a law degree. Pound was a prominent botanist as well as a jurist, and spent his early...

• Pufendorf, Samuel, Baron von 1632-94, German jurist and historian. He is especially noted as an early theorist of international law. Educated in the works of Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius , Pufendorf maintained that the law of nations is a branch of natural law , and that to treat it as positive law (i.e., law decreed by humans) is erroneous. His conception of natural law was based on the notion of humans as social animals, and he argued that each...

• Reeve, Tapping 1744-1823, American lawyer and jurist, b. Brookhaven, N.Y. In 1784 he opened his law school in Litchfield, Conn.; it was one of the first schools of law in the United States. Aaron Burr, John C...

• Renault, Louis 1843-1918, French jurist, professor of international law at the Univ. of Paris. Renault was one of the founders of the scientific study of international law in France. He sat on the Hague Tribunal...

• Romilly, Sir Samuel 1757-1818, English law reformer. Admitted to the bar in 1783, he soon developed a wide practice in the court of chancery. He was in sympathy with Rousseau's views, and he knew well several figures...

• Savigny, Friedrich Karl von 1779-1861, German jurist and legal historian, a founder of the historical school of jurisprudence. He taught (1810-42) Roman law at the Univ. of Berlin, of which he was the first rector. In 1814,...

• Scott, James Brown 1866-1943, American lawyer and educator, b. Ontario. He studied international law at Harvard and at Berlin, Heidelberg, and Paris. He was dean of the law schools of the Univ. of Southern California...

• Scroggs, Sir William 1623?-1683, English jurist. Educated at Oxford and trained in law at Gray's Inn, he became (1669) a king's sergeant, was made (1676) justice in common pleas through the influence of the earl of...

• Selden, John 1584-1654, English jurist and scholar. He studied at Oxford, was called to the bar in 1612, and was elected to Parliament in 1623. He had already assisted in preparing the protestation of Commons...

• Shaw, Lemuel 1781-1861, American jurist, b. Barnstable, Mass. After a career in the Massachusetts state legislature, Shaw served as chief justice for the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts (1830-60). In Commonwealth...

• Stair, James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount 1619-95, Scottish jurist. A student and then a regent of the Univ. of Glasgow, he was admitted to the bar in 1648. He supported the exiled Charles II and refused to swear allegiance to the...

• Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames 1829-94, English jurist and journalist; brother of Sir Leslie Stephen. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and was admitted to the bar in 1854. After 1855 he wrote many articles on ethics,...

• Traynor, Roger John 1900-1983, American jurist, b. Park City, Utah, grad. Univ. of California at Berkeley (A.B., 1923, Ph.D., 1926, J.D., 1927.) After teaching political science and law at the Univ. of California at...

• Tribonian (Tribonianus) , d. 545?, Roman jurist. Under the command of Justinian I , he directed the compilation of the Corpus Juris Civilis. It is not possible to determine exactly what Tribonian himself contributed;...

• Ulpian (Dometius Ulpianus) , d. 228, Roman jurist. He was a member of the council of the jurist Papinian. As Praetorian prefect from 222, he enjoyed the favor of the emperor Alexander Severus, and he was murdered by the...

• Warren, Charles 1868-1954, American lawyer and historian, b. Boston. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1892. An assistant U.S. Attorney General (1914-18), he served as a special master in important cases...

• Wharton, Francis 1820-89, American clergyman and lawyer, b. Philadelphia, grad. Yale, 1839. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1843, he became an authority on criminal law and wrote A Treatise on the Criminal Law of the United States (1846). He was (1856-63) professor of history and literature at Kenyon College. He was ordained (1862) an Episcopalian minister, and he was (1871-81) professor of canon law at the Episcopal...

• Wheaton, Henry 1785-1848, American jurist and diplomat, b. Providence, R.I., grad. Rhode Island College (now Brown), 1802. After translating the Code Napoléon into English, he practiced law, held various judicial...

• Wigmore, John Henry 1863-1943, American legal educator, b. San Francisco, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1883; M.A. and LL.B., 1887). He taught (1889-92) Anglo-American law at Keio-Gijuku Univ., Tokyo. After 1893 he was a...

• Wisdom, John Minor 1905-99, American jurist, b. New Orleans; grad. Tulane Univ. Law School, 1929. A Republican, long in private practice, he was named to the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1957, and became a...

• Zaleucus fl. c.650 BC, Greek lawgiver of Locris, in Italy. According to tradition, his was the earliest codification of Greek law. References to Zaleucus' code, which was widely adopted in Italy, indicate...