Benjamin Lynde was an American jurist. He was a naval officer for the port of Salem from 1721 to 1729 and served as the ninth chief of justice of Massachusetts.
Background
Benjamin Lynde was born on October 5, 1700, in Salem, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Benjamin and Mary (Browne) Lynde. He was a descendant of Simon Lynde of London who emigrated to New England in 1650. The elder Benjamin was a lawyer and served as chief justice of the superior court of the province of Massachusetts.
Education
Lynde graduated from Harvard in 1718 and received the degree of Master of Arts in 1721. Then he studied law for a brief period in the office of his uncle, Samuel Browne.
Career
In 1721 Lynde accepted the post of naval officer at Salem. Political differences with Governor William Burnet led to his resignation in 1729. He was active in local affairs, being repeatedly elected moderator of town meeting and town treasurer, and representing Salem in the General Court from 1728 to 1731. On May 25, 1737, he was chosen by the General Court a member of the Council, and, barring a brief period, served continuously thereon for over a quarter of a century. In the same year he was appointed an agent to adjust the boundary dispute between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and in 1739, to determine the boundary between Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, he had launched upon a judicial career, for on June 28, 1734, he was appointed special judge of the inferior court of common pleas for Suffolk County, and on October 5, 1739, was made one of the standing judges of the same court for Essex County. The death of his father in 1745 created a vacancy on the bench of the superior court, and he was appointed, January 24, 1746, associate justice. In 1766 the propriety of having judges serve as councillors was questioned by the House of Representatives, ostensibly on the ground that membership in the council hampered their administration of justice, but really because the House desired to place at the Council board members more friendly to the popular interest. Lynde was reluctant to be drawn into the controversy and on May 28 his resignation from the Council was announced.
The most noteworthy incidents in his career as a justice of the superior court were two. He was on the bench when the legality of the writs of assistance was argued in 1761; and in 1770, when Thomas Hutchinson, the chief justice, was obliged to occupy the executive chair, on the departure to England of Governor Francis Bernard, Lynde presided over the trial of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. The latter duty demanded great firmness and courage, since the mob was crying for vengeance upon the red-coats. Hutchinson accuses Lynde of timidity in the face of the popular clamor, alleging that Lynde twice offered his resignation in order to avoid trying the cases. A portion of Lynde's charge to the jury has been preserved, and attests his thorough knowledge of the law and his earnest desire to deal justly with the defendants. Upon Hutchinson's appointment to the governorship and "as the result of strong political and other influences", Lynde was commissioned, March 21, 1771, chief justice of the superior court. His tenure was brief. On January 15, 1772, owing to a dispute regarding payment of judges' salaries by the Crown, and because he felt too old to ride the circuit, he resigned, accepting the less onerous post of judge of probate for Essex County, his last public office.
Lynde was the owner of considerable real estate, including part of Thompson's Island in Boston harbor, a mansion in Salem, and a fine summer residence near Castle Hill, which he built in 1748 and where he dispensed generous hospitality.
Achievements
Religion
Lynde was a ruling elder of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts.
Interests
A diligent scholar, Lynde was keenly interested in the genealogy of his family and the history of his section.
Connections
On November 1, 1731, Lynde was married to Mary (Bowles), widow of Captain Walter Goodridge and a descendant of John Eliot.