Baldwin, Simeon Eben
BALDWIN, SIMEON EBEN
Simeon Eben Baldwin was born February 5,1840. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Yale in 1861, received a master of arts degree in 1864, and then pursued legal studies at Yale and Harvard. Four honorary doctor of laws degrees were bestowed upon him: by Harvard in 1891; Columbia, in 1911; Wesleyan, in 1912; and Yale, in 1916.
Baldwin was admitted to the bar in 1863. In 1869 he returned to Yale to teach at the Yale Law School until 1919, when he became professor emeritus.
In 1893, Baldwin entered the judiciary, presiding as associate justice of the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut until 1907 and as chief justice until 1910. From 1910 to 1914, Baldwin was governor of Connecticut.
Baldwin contributed to the formulation of many areas of Connecticut law. He was instrumental in amending the general statutes of Connecticut as well as the system of taxation.
Baldwin wrote numerous publications, including A Digest of All the Reported Cases of Connecticut (1871–72); Modern Political Institutions (1898); American Railroad Law (1904); The American Judiciary (1905); The Relations of Education to Citizenship (1912); and The Young Man and the Law (1919).
"Education, if it be real, is one of the great gifts of life."
—Simeon Baldwin
He died January 30, 1927, in New Haven, Connecticut.