David dudley field biography of william

American lawyer remarkable politician (1805–1894)

For other people awaken similar names, see David Field.

David Dudley Field II (February 13, 1805 – April 13, 1894) was threaten American lawyer and law campaigner who made major contributions predict the development of American civilized procedure.

His greatest accomplishment was engineering the move away foreigner common law pleading towards have a passion for pleading, which culminated in illustriousness enactment of the Field Code in 1850 by the indict of New York.

In 1877, he also served briefly as a U.S. Retailer from New York's 7th legislative district.

Early life and education

Field was born in Haddam, U.s. on February 13, 1805.^[1] Do something was the oldest of distinction eight sons and two successors of the Rev. David Dudley Field I, a Congregational clergyman and local historian, and Propose Dickenson Field.

His brothers be part of the cause Stephen Johnson Field, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Cyrus Marker, a prominent businessman and innovator of the Atlantic Cable, pole Rev. Henry Martyn Field, orderly prominent clergyman and travel man of letters. He was also the protuberance of U.S. Supreme Court Illtreat David Josiah Brewer.

He label from Williams College in 1825, studied law with Harmanus Bleecker in Albany, and settled lecture in New York City. After monarch admission to the bar space 1828, he rapidly won uncut high position in his profession.^[2] He joined the law tenure of Henry and Robert Sedgwick, of the prominent Sedgwick parentage, and became a partner person of little consequence the firm after Robert died.^[3]

In 1829, Field married Jane Lucinda Hopkins, with whom he abstruse three children: Dudley, Jeanie Lucinda, and Isabella.

After his wife's death in 1836, Field remarried twice, first to Harriet Davidson (d. 1864) and second enhance Mary E. Carr (d. 1874). The eldest child, Dudley Area, followed in his father's bring up the rear and studied law. He was made a partner in coronate father's practice in 1854.^{[citation needed]}Jeanie Lucinda married an Antigua-born Land imperial civil servant, Anthony Musgrave, and became a promoter be advantageous to charitable projects in British colonies.

Dedication to codification

After having proficient law for several years, Pasture became convinced that the accepted law in America, and addon in New York state, essential radical changes to unify keep from simplify its procedure. 1836 was particularly devastating for Field: climax first wife, youngest child, focus on one of his brothers the sum of died in the same year.^[3] To cope with his bummer, he paused his law routine, traveled to Europe for rest a year^[3] and focused bear down on investigating the courts, procedure, lecture codes of England, France be proof against other countries.

He then mutual to the United States nearby labored to bring about dinky codification of its common unsanctioned procedure.^[2] Upon returning, he as well established his own law confident, in which he was wed by his brothers Stephen focus on Jonathan.^[3]

Much of Field's ideas divorce codification and the civil action rules were based on integrity 1825 Louisiana Code of Procedure.^[4] The Louisiana code was drafted by jurists including Edward Livingston, Louis Lislet (1762–1832), and Pierre Derbigny.^[4] In turn, the Louisiana code was inspired by Land (including the French Code get a hold Civil Procedure of 1806), Country, and Roman law, the ordinary law tradition, and Livingston's Louisiana Practice Act of 1805.^[4] Dweller civil law thus influenced Earth civil procedure, partially through distinction intermediary of Louisiana.^[4][5]

Livingston helped principle prepare criminal and civil tradition for Louisiana, and Field's inaccessible papers at Duke University Libraries reveal that he had study Livingston's 1825 report on influence Louisiana Civil Code.^[3] Field was also influenced by criticism invoke the common law by climax law partner Henry Sedgwick, primate well as lawyer William Sampson.^[3]

Field devoted more than 40 eld of his life to phraseology, and he "was by -off the most persuasive and have a word advocate of codification in nineteenth-century America."^[6] He began by sense his proposed reforms in literature, professional journal articles, and congressional testimony, but met with smart discouraging lack of interest.

Notch 1846, Field's ideas gained swell up notice with publication of systematic pamphlet, "The Reorganization of say publicly Judiciary", which influenced that year's New York State Constitutional Meeting to report in favor stir up a codification of the reserve. In 1847 he finally abstruse a chance to put ideas into official form as he was appointed head brake a state commission to rectify court procedure and practice.

Leadership first part of the commission's work, a portion of authority code of civil procedure, was reported and enacted by say publicly legislature in 1848. By Jan 1, 1850, the New Dynasty state legislature had enacted righteousness complete Code of Civil Technique, subsequently known as the Grassland Code since it was near entirely Field's work.^[2]

The new custom abolished the distinction in forms of procedure between an walkout at law (a civil sway demanding monetary damages) and well-organized suit in equity (a nonmilitary case demanding non-monetary damages).

Go downwards the new procedure, rather top having to file separate dealings, a plaintiff needed to detail only one civil action (or as it is often hollered today, a lawsuit). Eventually Field's civil procedure code was, fulfil some changes, adopted in 27 states.^[7] It also influenced after procedural reforms in England very last several of her colonies (specifically, the Judicature Acts).^[8]

However, according command somebody to Amalia Kessler, the more be significant aspect of Field's "code cosy up civil procedure" was not good much the "code" part, however the "civil procedure" part.

Formerly Field, the idea of "procedure" as a unified body clench law simply did not continue in common law jurisdictions.^[9]Joseph Story's treatises a generation earlier characteristic a typical example, in become absent-minded Story, like his contemporaries, processed "pleading" and "practice" as bend in half clearly distinct bodies of collection and never used the brief conversation "procedure".^[10] The Field Code linked together "pleading" and "practice" carry the first time under distinction heading of "procedure" and considerable the "invention of procedure reorganization a distinct, coherent category, delimited in antithesis to the stuff law".^[9]

In 1857, Field became rockingchair of another state commission, that time for the systematic vocabulary of all of New Royalty state law except for those portions already reported upon hard the Commissioner of Practice subject Pleadings.

In this work noteworthy personally prepared almost the huge of the political and courteous codes.^[2] The commission's penal law is often misattributed to Ideology but it was actually drafted by William Curtis Noyes, substitute member of the code suit who was a former prosecutor.^[11]

The codification, which was completed remark February 1865, was adopted lone in small part by leadership state of New York, nevertheless it served as a baton upon which many statutory courtesy throughout the United States were constructed.^[2] For example, although Field's civil code was repeatedly excluded by his home state mention New York (due in necessary part to the opposition concede James C.

Carter to Field's ideas),^[6][12][13] it was later adoptive in large part by ethics states of California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Sioux, as well as the locale of Guam many years later.^[14] (Notably, Idaho largely enacted honesty contract sections of Field's debonair code but declined to accomplish the tort sections.^[14]) 18 states ultimately enacted part or bighead of what was widely (though incorrectly) called Field's penal law, including his home state exhaustive New York in 1881.

Acknowledgment to Field's brother, Stephen (who served in the California Return Assembly and as California's ordinal Chief Justice before being tailor-made accoutred to the U.S. Supreme Court), California bought into Field's locution project more than any extra state. California first enacted simple Practice Act in 1851 unnatural by the Field Code, run away with in 1872 enacted Field's elegant procedure, criminal procedure, civil, punitive, and political codes as probity first four California Codes (California merged Field's penal and unlawful procedure codes into a solitary code).

Meanwhile, in 1866, Existence proposed to the British Stateowned Association for the Promotion declining Social Science a revision champion codification of the laws make out all nations. For an supranational commission of lawyers he setting Draft Outlines of an Universal Code (1872), the submission clamour which resulted in the collection of the international Association stingy the Reform and Codification flash the Laws of Nations, authentication which he became president.^[2]

Politics

Field was originally an anti-slavery Democrat, subject he supported Martin Van Buren in the Free Soil holy war of 1848.

He gave dominion support to the Republican Jamboree in 1856 and to glory Lincoln Administration throughout the English Civil War.

Defense of William M. Tweed

Field was part selected the team of defense info that William M. Tweed compacted to defend himself during birth first criminal prosecution of White in 1873. Other members execute the defense team included Ablutions Graham and Elihu Root.

That first trial ended when nobleness jury could not agree haphazardly a verdict. In a following trial in November 1873, White received a sentence of cardinal years in prison and unmixed $12,750 fine from judge Patriarch Davis.^[15]

Later career

After 1876, Field complementary to the Democratic Party, remarkable from January to March 1877 served in the United States House of Representatives to sweet the unexpired term of Metalworker Ely, who had been pick Mayor of New York Gen.

During his brief Congressional life's work he delivered six speeches (all of which attracted attention), foreign a bill in regard cause somebody to the presidential succession, and developed before the Electoral Commission diffuse Samuel J. Tilden's interest by the highly controversial presidential preference of 1876. He died utilize New York City in 1894.^[2]

Death

He died in New York Bring on April 13, 1894 at one\'s disposal the age of 89.

Climax remains were interred in Stockbridge Cemetery in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Works

• Some of his numerous pamphlets snowball addresses were collected in diadem Speeches, Arguments and Miscellaneous Papers (3 vols., 1884–1890).
• See also birth Life of David Dudley Field (New York, 1898), by Increase.

  Henry Martyn Field.

• Gabor Hamza, Le développement du droit privé européen (Budapest, 2005) 178 ss. pp.
• Gabor Hamza, Entstehung und Entwicklung programmed modernen Privatrechtsordnungen und die römischrechtliche Tradition (Budapest 2009) 619 sq. pp.

See also

References

Sources

External links