James Kent in the United States

Introduction to James Kent (1763_1847)

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, he was a New York jurist, and “influenced American constitutional jurisprudence through both his writings and his judicial opinions. Largely because of his Commentaries on American Law, Kent was as important a legal figure as any in nineteenth-century America.”

Life and Work of James Kent

The following is a description of James Kent [1]:

Was born in Putnam county, New York, July 31, 1763, and died December 12, 1847. His grandfather was a clergyman, his father a law- yer; and both were graduates of Yale college. He entered Yale in 1777, and was graduated with distinction in 1781. In July, 1779, the students being dispersed by the invasion of New Haven by the British troops, he withdrew to a small town, where he chanced to read a copy of Blackstone’s Commentaries, the perusal influencing him in deciding to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1785, and began the practice at Poughkeepsie, where he had pursued his studies. In 1790, and in 1792, he was elected to the legislature from Duchess county. He was an active Federalist, and had the friendship of Jay and Hamilton. In 1793, he removed to New York city, and in the following year began to deliver lectures in the law department of Columbia college. The attendance upon the course for 1795 did not encourage him to deliver another course.

The first three lectures were after-ward published, but the sale of copies did not repay the expense of publication. In 1796, he was appointed one of the two masters in chancery in New York city, and was also re-elected to the legislature; and the next year he was made recorder of the city. In 1798, he was appointed a judge of the supreme court, in which capacity he continued sixteen years, during ten of which be was chief justice.

At that time there were neither reports nor precedents of the court; the judges pronounced their opinions orally and at very irregular intervals; the law itself was embryonic and unsettled. Kent decided cases without delay, and, in cases of importance, delivered written opinions. The most of these opinions have been preserved in the three volumes of Johnson’s Cases (1779-1803), the four-teen volumes of Johnson’s Reports (1806-1817). and the seven volumes of Johnson’s Chancery Reports (1814- 1823). The large number of per curiam opinions in eighth Johnson, all of one term, are by him, although not so indicated. ” English authorities did not stand high in those feverish times, and this led me,” he wrote, “to bear down opposition, or to shame it, by exhausting research and overwhelming authority. Our jurisprudence was probably on the whole improved by it. . . The judges were Republicans, kindly disposed to everything French; and this enabled me, without exciting alarm or jealousy, to make free use of such [French] authorities, and thereby enrich our commercial law.

From 1814 to 1823, he presided over the court of chancery in the State of New York. The seven volumes of Johnson’s Chancery Reports contain his decisions tor that period, and present an extended and learned exposition of equity jurisprudence. ” For the nine years I was in that office,” he further wrote, ” there was not a single decision or dictum of either of my predecessors — Livingston, and Lansing, 1777 to 1814 — cited or even suggested to me. I tookthe court as if it were an institution never before known in the United States. I had nothing to guide me, and was left at liberty to assume all such English chancery practice and jurisdiction as I thought applicable under our constitution. . . I was only checked by the senate as a court of errors.” He left no aspect of a case unexamined and undecided. His dicta have furnished the basis of countless adjudications.

In 1823, being in his sixty-first year, and, under the constitution, no longer qualified for judicial office, he resumed residence in New York city, and was re-elected to the chair in Columbia law school which had been vacant since he left it in 1795. Here he delivered the lectures which constituted the substance of his ” Commentaries on American Law,” as first published. ” Having got heartily tired of lecturing, I abandoned It, and it was my son that pressed me to prepare a volume of lectures for the press. I had no idea of publishing them when I delivered them. I wrote a new volume and published it. This led me to remodel and enlarge, and now the third volume will be out in a few days; and I am obliged to write a fourth to complete my plan.

The first volume of the Commentaries was published in 1826, the second in 1827, the third in 1829, and the fourth in 1830. Up to the time of his death, in 1847, he had revised five other editions. His son Judge William Kent superintended the preparation of the seventh edition in 1852, the eighth in 1854, the ninth in 1858, and the tenth in 1860. The eleventh edition was prepared by Judge George F. Comstock, in 1868, the twelfth by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., In 1873, and the thirteenth by C. M. Barnes, in 1884. Of part of Kent’s judicial labors Story said that ” to unfold the doctrines of chancery in our country and to settle them upon immovable foundations, it required such a man with such a mind, at once liberal, comprehensive, exact, and methodical; always reverencing authorities and bound by decisions; true to the spirit yet more true to the letter of the law; proving principles with a severe and scrupulous logic, yet blending with them the most persuasive equity.” Story also wrote that the Commentaries were new proof of the author’s accurate learning, extensive research, and unwearied diligence.

Outline of James Kent

James Kent (1763-1847), American jurist, born in Fredericksburgh, New York, and educated at Yale College (now Yale University). He was admitted to the bar in 1785 and practiced law at Poughkeepsie, New York, from 1785 to 1793. During this period he was twice elected to represent Dutchess County in the state assembly. In 1793 Kent was appointed one of two masters in chancery in New York City, and in the same year he became the first professor of law at Columbia College (now Columbia University). In 1796 Kent was again elected to the state assembly, and in 1798 he was appointed judge of the New York Supreme Court. He became chief justice in 1804 and held that position until 1814, when he was appointed chancellor of the New York Court of Chancery. As chancellor he handed down decisions that influenced the subsequent development of U.S. equity jurisprudence. He resigned as chancellor in 1823 to devote himself to the teaching of law at Columbia. His lectures there constituted the basis for his four-volume work, Commentaries on American Law (1826-30).” [2]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Biography of James Kent provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)
2. Information about James Kent in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia