THE CHICAGO LAW TIMES.

VOL. III.]

JANUARY, 1889.

[No. 1.

JOSEPH STORY

Was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on the eighteenth day of September, 1779. He was the eldest child of a second marriage. His father, Dr. Elisha Story, had served as a surgeon in the army of the Revolution, and afterward engaged in the practice of medicine in Marblehead, with distinguished success, till his death in 1805. His second wife, the mother of Judge Story, was Mehitable Pedrick, the daughter of an opulent merchant of Marblehead. She was married at the age of nineteen, and lived to an advanced age, surviving her eminent son by a few years. She was a woman of sense and energy, with an active mind and a cheerful spirit. Left, at the death of her husband, with a numerous family and a very moderate income, she showed an admirable tact and method in the management of her household, and the education of her children.

Young Story was prepared for college in his native town, and entered the Freshman Class in Harvard College, in January, 1795, about half a year in advance. His college life wast in all respects honorable to him. His studies embraced not merely the prescribed course of the college, but ranged over a wide field of English literature. Among his classmates were Dr. Tuckerman and Dr. Channing. With the latter he contended for the highest honors of his class, but always acquiesced in the decision that gave the first place to his friend.

In the preparation of this sketch, we have made free use of the material in the "Memoir of Joseph Story, LL. D.," by George S. Hillard, published in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 1869.

The profession of the law had been his first and only choice, and he entered upon the study of it immediately after leaving college, first at Marblehead, in the office of Chief-Justice Sewall, and afterward at Salem, with Judge Putnam. His love of literature, and especially poetry, and his enthusiastic temperament, made the study of the law at first distasteful to him; and he was obliged to struggle desperately over "Coke on Littleton" and other treatises of the kind, which were placed before the law students of that day. But these difficulties soon vanished before his resolute industry, and in the three years of his preparation he laid a strong and sure foundation of knowledge, on which to build in after years.

He was admitted to the bar in 1801, and immediately began the practice of the law in Salem. His industry, the fidelity with which he served his clients, and his frank and engaging manners soon secured him a fair and steadily increasing amount of business, notwithstanding the fact that he had espoused the unpopular side in politics. He was a democrat, while the wealth, the cultivation and social influence of Salem, and indeed of all Massachusetts, were with the Federal party.

During the year 1803, the post of naval officer of the port of Salem was offered to him, but declined on the ground that its duties would interfere with his professional prospects. His pen was actively employed at this time, and not always in the line of his profession. His imaginative faculty found vent in poems and orations.

During the same year, he prepared for the press and published a "Selection of Pleadings in Civil Actions," a useful and accurate manual, and for a long time, during the reign of special pleading, almost the only book of forms used in this country.

In December, 1804, Mr. Story was married to Miss Mary Lynde Oliver, a young lady to whom he had been long and tenderly attached; but this domestic happiness was destined to be of brief duration, for his wife's health began to decline soon after their marriage, and she died in June, 1805, to the inexpressible grief of her husband. She had pleasing manners, a cultivated mind, and an amiable and gentle disposition. Her image he always recalled with affectionate tenderness.

In 1805, he was chosen a member of the Legislature of Massachusetts, to represent the town of Salem, and was annually re-elected until his appointment to the bench. He soon came to be recognized as the leader of his party in the House, and was often obliged to contest, almost single-handed, against the powerful array of ability and influence which supported the federal cause. In these contests he bore himself with a courage and eloquence which extorted hearty praise from the more generous of his opponents. He was an ardent, but not a bitter or an unscrupulous partisan. In 1806, he so far broke away from party ties as to support Theophilus Parsons for Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, though Parsons was an uncompromising federalist; and Mr. Story even twice used his influence to raise the salary of the office, so that the ChiefJustice could afford to continue to hold the position. He was for a long time denounced by some of the journals of his own party for the part he took in these measures.

In January, 1806, he drew up an able memorial from the inhabitants of Salem to the President and Congress, on the infringement of the neutral trade of this country by Great Britain.

In the month of August, 1808, he was married to Miss Sarah Waldo Wetmore, a lady with whom he lived in great happiness during the remainder of his life.

In the autumn of 1808, he was elected a member of Congress. He served only for the remainder of a broken term for which he had been chosen, and declined a re-election; his hopes and aspirations being professional rather than political. While in Congress, he manifested his usual independence by giving his support to propositions to increase the navy and to repeal the embargo; upon both questions acting against the party to which he belonged. Mr. Jefferson was displeased at his course, and in one of his letters calls him a "pseudo-republican."

In 1809, he edited a new edition of "Chitty on Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes;" appending to it a large number of valuable annotations. In 1810, he prepared an edition of "Abbott on Shipping," and in 1811, an edition of "Lawes on.

Assumpsit;" to both works adding copious notes.

In January, 1811, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, and on the organization of the new House, in the succeeding May, he was re-elected to the same position.

In 1810, the seat of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States became vacant by the death of Mr. Justice Cushing. The place was first offered by President Madison to the Hon. Levi Lincoln, who declined it; and then to the Hon. John Quincy Adams, at that time in Russia, by whom it was also declined. In the month of November, 1811, the appointment was. very much to his surprise, offered to Mr. Story, and after some reflection, accepted.

Mr. Story, when he went upon the bench, was only thirtytwo years old; an almost unprecedented age for a lawyer to be advanced to a seat upon the highest judicial tribunal of his country. Mr. Justice Buller is perhaps the only exception. There was in some quarters some apprehension on account of his youth and his previous political partisanship; but from the moment he assumed his judicial office, he shook the dust of politics from his feet, and bore himself with absolute impartiality.

From 1811 to 1829, when he removed to Cambridge, the life of Judge Story flowed on in a uniform and uneventful current. About three months of every year were spent with the Supreme Court in Washington, and several weeks were devoted to the judicial duties of his circuit, embracing Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. His life was useful, laborious and happy. His duties were eminently congenial to his tastes and to the structure of his mind. His domestic and social nature found satisfaction in a happy home, and in a large circle of relatives and friends, by whom he was regarded with equal pride and affection. His lot was not, however, free from trials. Four of his seven children were taken from him during these years. His letters show how acutely he felt these losses, and with what Christian resignation he sustained them.

During this period, he was not idle in the intervals of his judicial labors. His time was occupied in preparing addresses,

biographical sketches and memorials, and in literary work of a miscellaneous character. He contributed to the North American Review various law articles of great value, and filled many of the titles in the Encyclopedia Americana, such as Congress, Contract, Courts of the United States, Criminal Law, Equity, Jury, Lien, Natural Law, National Law, etc. The elaborate notes in "Wheaton's Reports," occupying nearly two hundred closely printed pages, were written by Judge Story.

To this period of his life also belongs his impressive charge to the grand jury at Portland, in 1821, on the horrors of the slave trade.

In 1820, after the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, a convention was called to revise the Constitution of the latter State. To this convention-a body remarkable for wisdom, ability, and comprehensive patriotism-Judge Story was sent as a delegate from the town of Salem. He took an active and influential part in its proceedings, maintaining on one occasion, in a powerful argument, the independence of the judiciary.

In 1829, an important change took place in his life and labors. In this year, the Dane Professorship of Law in Harvard College was established, and Judge Story, though he had previously declined to accept the Royal Professorship of Law at Cambridge, was induced to fill the chair of the Dane Professorship in Harvard. He left Salem in September, and immediately entered upon the duties of his new position. Under the influence of the name and reputation of Judge Story, the number of students in the Law School, increased the first year from eight to thirty.

On the 10th of May, 1831, his youngest daughter, Louisaa child singularly lovely in person and attractive in character, died of scarlet fever. This loss he felt most keenly, and it appeared to cast a shadow over his subsequent life.

In the autumn of 1831, the chief-justiceship of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts became vacant by the death of ChiefJustice Parker, and Judge Story was much pressed to accept the vacant office, but declined to do so.

In the beginning of the year 1832, Judge Story published his "Commentaries on the Law of Bailments," the first of the