Background
James Coolidge Carter was born on October 14, 1827 in Lancaster, Massachussets, United States; the son of Solomon and Elizabeth (White) Carter.
(Excerpt from Law, Its Origin, Growth and Function: Being ...)
Excerpt from Law, Its Origin, Growth and Function: Being a Course of Lectures Prepared for Delivery Before the Law School of Harvard University After his retirement from active practice, he determined to devote a portion of his leisure to writing a somewhat more important and complete expression of his views on these topics than had been contained in his former pamphlets and addresses but at the suggestion of President Eliot, of Harvard University, he substituted for this proposed work a series of lectures to be delivered before the Law School of that University. I find among his papers a brief memorandum in his handwriting, evidently written before this change of purpose and intended as a suggestion for a preface to the work which he at first designed to write. It is endorsed By Way of a Possible Preface, and is as follows. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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James Coolidge Carter was born on October 14, 1827 in Lancaster, Massachussets, United States; the son of Solomon and Elizabeth (White) Carter.
James attended Derby Academy, Hingham, Massachussets, and in 1846 entered Harvard College where he won the Bowdoin Prize, was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, and graduated in 1850, fourth in his class. Before entering the Dane Law School at Harvard, in September 1851, he spent a year in New York City as a private tutor, and law student.
Having removed to New York City, Carter was admitted to the New York bar in 1853, and began practise as managing clerk for the firm of Davies & Scudder of which he became a member in 1854 on the retirement of Judge Davies. He was associated with this firm, with various changes in personnel, for fifty-two years. The keynote of his career was devotion to his profession. There was no divided allegiance, even on the personal side, for he never married. His cases, and defense of the common law, made up his whole life, except in a few instances which had direct relation to the law. His ability early attracted the attention of Charles O'Conor who sought him as associate in many cases. Among the most prominent of these were the Jumel Will Case, and the Tweed Ring Cases. Out of the latter litigation grew Carter's interest in municipal reform. In 1875, at the appointment of Gov. Tilden, he served as a member of a commission of twelve to devise a plan of government for the cities of New York State. He was counsel in many important cases in New York State, including the Singer, Tilden, Hamersley and Fayerweather will cases. In the last decade of his active practise, he was engaged chiefly in arguing cases involving constitutional questions before the United States Supreme Court. Perhaps the most noted of these was the Income Tax Case, argued in 1895, in which he brilliantly but unsuccessfully supported the constitutionality of the act. In the court room, Carter was a striking advocate.
Being called into critical cases where a forlorn hope had to be led, he lost in the long run as many cases as he won. His power of application was phenomenal, and his aim was absolute perfection and completeness in preparation. As a young man he twice went beyond his physical strength, so that for a year or two he had to retire from practise. Thenceforward he gave systematic attention to his health, providing for repose, sport, and exercise.
In 1890 he was a member of the New York State Commission appointed to suggest amendments to the judiciary article of the state constitution. The high point in his career as an advocate was reached when he appeared as one of counsel for the United States before the Behring Sea Fur-Seal Tribunal of Arbitration which met in Paris in February 1893. His opening argument for the United States lasted seven days. Among lawyers, Carter's name will always be a byword because of the fight which he led against codification. When the Civil Code of substantive law drawn up by David Dudley Field had been twice adopted by a New York legislature, and twice vetoed by a governor, and when further efforts were being made to effect its passage, Carter as a member of a Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, prepared a paper entitled The Proposed Codification of Our Common Law (1883), which was printed and widely distributed. This began a spirited controversy with Field which lasted until the final defeat of the Code. Carter believed that Field's plan to reduce to statutory form the entire body of law governing private transactions of men was fundamentally unsound, impossible of accomplishment, and even if possible undesirable. The foundation of his argument was a series of propositions: "That human transactions, especially private transactions, can be governed only by the principles of justice; that these have an absolute existence, and cannot be made by human enactment; that they are wrapped up with the transactions which they regulate, and are discovered by subjecting those transactions to examination; that the law is consequently a science depending upon the observation of facts, and not a contrivance to be established by legislation, that being a method directly antagonistic to science. " That Carter's interest was not merely controversial, but philosophical and scientific, was shown by two further studies, "The Provinces of the Written and the Unwritten Law" (Report of Virginia State Bar Association, 1889), and "The Ideal and the Actual in the Law" (Report of American Bar Association, 1890). After his retirement from active practise, he devoted a portion of his leisure to the preparation of a fuller statement of his views, which was to have been read as a series of lectures before the Harvard Law School in the spring of 1905. After his death in New York City on Feb. 14 of that year, they were published by his executors under the title Law: Its Origin, Growth and Function (1907).
(Excerpt from Law, Its Origin, Growth and Function: Being ...)
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Quotations: "Nothing is finally decided, until it is decided right. "
In 1890 he was a member of the New York State Commission appointed to suggest amendments to the judiciary article of the state constitution.
He was president of the American Bar Association (1894 - 95), and president, five times, of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, of which he was a founder.
Carter was of medium height, strongly built, with a rugged countenance in which "sternness, sadness and benevolence struggled for ascendancy, " and he had a magnificent head described as leonine. His voice was deep, rich, and powerful. He possessed a copious vocabulary and displayed fine skill in its use. He was earnest, but used few gestures, and while not wanting in a sense of humor, was more given to irony. He was combative, aggressive, and forceful.
He never married.
