George Wakeman Wheeler was a lawyer, judge, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the state of Connecticut.
Background
George Wakeman Wheeler was born on December 1, 1860 in Woodville, Miss. , from which place his parents moved to New Jersey not long after the close of the Civil War. His father, for whom he was named, became a judge of the court of common pleas of Bergen County, N. J. ; his great-grandfather, Stephen Wheeler, had been a judge of the Fairfield County court in Connecticut. On his maternal side he was of Scotch descent, his mother, Lucy (Dowie), having been born in Edinburgh, though she lived most of her life in Andes, N. Y.
Education
After preparation at the Hackensack Military Academy and at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachussets, Wheeler entered Yale, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1881, and that of LL. B. , cum laude, in 1883. He graduated from the Yale Law School.
Career
He and his college classmate, Howard J. Curtis, formed a partnership for the practice of law in Bridgeport, Connecticut He at once became active politically, and at the age of twenty-eight was city chairman and a state leader of the Democratic party. From 1890 to 1892 he served as corporation counsel of Bridgeport, and in 1893 was appointed a judge of the superior court, the youngest appointee in the state's history. Here he served as trial judge until 1910, when he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of errors. In 1920 he became chief justice and served as such until his retirement under the constitutional age limitation in 1930. Twice he declined appointment upon the circuit court of appeals of the United States for the second circuit. Wheeler did not limit his activities to the bench but held many positions of trust and honor. He was largely influential in procuring the adoption by the superior court of uniform standards of admission to the bar of the state, and in establishing the state bar examining committee, upon which he served as one of the original members in 1890-92, and again from 1897 to 1919, acting as chairman from 1913 to 1919. He was also a member (1924 - 32) of the council of the American Law Institute, engaged in restating the common law of the United States. From its inception in 1927 until 1930 he was chairman of the judicial council of Connecticut. In this capacity he was mainly responsible for the rules of summary judgment - an innovation - and the revised rules of discovery of facts before trial; a bill which he prepared and supported to establish a system of district courts to supplant the political justice of the peace and town court system failed of enactment. During the World War he was active as a member of the state council of defense and as chairman of the executive committee of the Bridgeport war bureau. One of his fiery war addresses at a great public meeting is said to have swayed sentiment so that a threatened strike of 5000 operatives in the local munitions factories was called off. For his Americanization work with the Italians in Bridgeport he was decorated by the Italian government as Chevalier of the Order of the Crown of Italy in 1920 and as Grand Officer of the Order in 1928. In 1925, almost alone, and against opposition which approached abuse, he vigorously but unsuccessfully advocated the enactment of a statute making the buyer of liquor equally amenable to the criminal law with the seller. An example of his power in battle was his impromptu speech which led to the defeat of a resolution for a referendum of the state bar on prohibition. These characteristics of vigor and courage distinguished his judicial career. Although the youngest justice, he was the only one to dissent during his first term, and until he became chief justice his dissents were many and forcefully expressed. As head of the court, he usually carried his associates with him, yet his independence of thought frequently led him where they were unwilling to go. Thus in his last year of service his associates denied recovery for a brutal automobile killing by a hit-and-run driver where there was no one to sustain the plaintiff's burden of proving negligence, and Wheeler reiterated his own stirring dissent of sixteen years earlier, setting forth the view that the common law must grow and expand to prevent injustice. Among the many opinions wherein he spoke for the court, those giving a liberal interpretation to the Connecticut Workmen's Compensation Act passed in 1913 well illustrate his progressive attitude towards the law. His writings were mainly confined to his judicial opinions. Worthy of mention, however, are the published reports of the Judicial Council of Connecticut for 1928 and 1930, which were prepared by him; his obituary sketch of his associate, Justice Curtis; his address on Daniel Davenport; an article, "Deeds - Inuring of after Acquired Title", prepared in collaboration with Joseph A. Joyce, and his address to the Judicial Council of Connecticut. He died in Bridgeport.
Achievements
He was notable for forming a partnership with his college roommate Howard J. Curtis which lasted until Wheeler was appointed to the Superior Court in 1893.
Personality
He was an active, energetic, generous, and courageous. Wheeler possessed a gracious and simple personality, which endeared him to many; yet he never hesitated to make enemies, for he supported wholeheartedly whatever he believed was right.
Connections
In July 1894 he was married to Agnes Leonard Macy. They had a son and a daughter.
