biography
| name: |
Parsons, Theophilus
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1750–1813)
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| biography:
| Judge, born in Byfield, Massachusetts, USA. He studied at Harvard (1769), then practised law in Maine and Massachusetts (1770s), his ideas heavily influencing the Massachusetts Federalist constitution of 1780. His reputation grew steadily, and by the beginning of the 19th-c he was considered the leading lawyer in the USA. An important legal scholar, he is given credit for rooting the US legal system in English common law precedents rather than in French ones. In 1806–13 he served as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Notoriously untidy, legend held that he relied on his wife to dress him for public appearances. |
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