biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1768–1830)
|
| biography:
| Judge, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. A goldsmith's son, he graduated from Harvard with high honours in 1786, became a school teacher, then moved to Castine, ME where he set up a law practice. He served a term in Congress (1797–9) before accepting an appointment as US marshal for Maine. Named to the Massachusetts Supreme Court (1806), he became chief justice (1814), a position he held until his death. He was a steady if unspectacular jurist, and many of his decisions were acknowledged as authoritative in federal and other state courts. In 1817 he drew up a plan for what became Harvard Law School, at which he was a professor and overseer for several years. |
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