Report of the Committee of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania to Whom Were Referred the Message of the Governor and Sundry Memorials of the Relating to the Abolition of Lotteries
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James Dunlop was an American lawyer and author. He enjoyed a high reputation as an accomplished lawyer and advocate, though no details of his professional achievements have survived apart from his own legal writings.
Background
James Dunlop was born in 1795 at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the great-grandson of William Dunlop of County Armagh, Ireland, who in 1738 acquired land grants at Shippensburg and Falling Springs, Pennsylvania, and whose descendants continued to be associated with that neighborhood. His father, Andrew Dunlop, a lawyer of Lancaster and Chambersburg, married Sarah Bella Chambers, grand-daughter of the founder of the latter town, on November 13, 1790, and James was born at Chambersburg.
Education
The family was well-to- do, and he received a good private education after which he proceeded to Dickinson College, Carlisle, where he graduated in 1812.
He then studied law with his father, and after his admission to the Franklin County bar in 1817, commenced practise in Chambersburg.
Career
Dunlop's family connections and natural ability procured for him a flourishing practise, in addition to which he engaged in industrial business, becoming senior partner in the firm of Dunlop & Madeira, owners of the Lemnos Factory at Chambersburg, and manufacturers of edge tools and cutlery.
He was elected to the state Senate for Franklin County in 1824, serving till December 1827. During this period he prepared, “A Memoir on the Controversy between William Penn and Lord Baltimore Respecting the Boundaries of Pennsylvania and Maryland, ” which was read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on November 10, 1825, and published in its Memoirs, vol. I (1826).
In 1831 he was elected to the state House of Representatives for Franklin County and served one term, but in 1833 the action of President Jackson in withdrawing the government deposits from the United States Bank caused him to dissociate himself from the Democratic party, and he thenceforth practically withdrew from political life.
In 1837 he represented the District of Franklin, Cumberland, and Adams counties in the state convention which met at Harrisburg, taking a prominent part in the debates.
Though he was a good lawyer and a successful advocate, his business interests had interfered seriously with his legal practise, and in 1838, when industrial conditions became stagnant, he removed to Pittsburgh and commenced practise anew in that city.
In 1843 he published Part 1 of a Treatise on the Duties of County and Township 0 fficers of Pennsylvania, which dealt with the county commissioners and the assessing and collecting of taxes ; but the plan, which contemplated a subsequent volume, was never completed. He also prepared, The General Laws of Pennsylvania, 1700-1846, Chronologically Arranged with Notes and References to all the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Giving Construction to Such Laws (1847). This work met with immediate favor, and two subsequent editions were called for, the last of which, issued in 1858 after his death, included the state laws up to 1853.
He built up a substantial practise in Pittsburgh but considerations of health induced him in 1855 to retire, and he then took up his residence in Philadelphia.
Achievements
Dunlop's major contribution was his Digest of the General Laws of the United States with References and Notes of Decisions (1856).
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Politics
Dunlop took an active interest in local politics, identifying himself with the Jackson Democrats.
Personality
In person Dunlop was over medium height and somewhat spare in build. Gifted with a brilliant wit and caustic tongue, he was “red headed and humorous, and would rather have lost a fee than have missed a chance to relate an amusing anecdote”
