Notes in Prof. Smith's Course in Torts at the Harvard Law School Based on a Selection of Cases on the Law of Torts
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A Selection of Cases on Private Corporations; Volume 1
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As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
A Selection of Cases on Private Corporations; Volume 2
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As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Jeremiah Smith was an American jurist and law teacher.
Background
Jeremiah was born on July 14, 1837 in Exeter, New Hampshire, United States, son of Jeremiah Smith, then in his seventy-eighth year, and his second wife, Elizabeth Hale, daughter of William Hale of Dover. His father had been a congressman, governor of New Hampshire, and chief justice of the New Hampshire supreme court. In 1843 the widowed mother settled on a farm in Lee, New Hampshire.
Education
Jeremiah Smith was taught by his mother and at a district school of New Hampshire. From 1849 to 1853 he attended Phillips Exeter Academy. Entering Harvard College as a sophomore, he graduated in 1856 with high rank. He studied law under Daniel M. Christie of Dover and for a year at Harvard Law School, 1860-61.
Career
After admission to the bar in Strafford County, New Hampshire, in 1861, he practised in Dover. On October 16, 1867, when only thirty, Smith was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of New Hampshire, then a very strong court which included Ira Perley as chief justice and Charles Doe. Instead of limiting himself to the immediate issue, he endeavored to solve general problems.
The heavy, confining trial work then required of his court so wore upon Smith that he was threatened with tuberculosis and resigned on January 26, 1874. He restored his health by several winters in Minnesota. In 1882 he reopened his office in Dover and at once became a leader of the state bar, frequently acting as referee and arguing many cases before the supreme court.
In 1890, at the age of fifty-three, chance brought an abrupt change in his work. A lecture he gave on Legal Ethics to Harvard students so impressed President Eliot, who happened to be in the audience, that a month later, March 31, Smith was appointed Story Professor of Law. In September 1890 he settled at 4 Berkeley St. , Cambridge, a house formerly owned by Richard H. Dana, and began to teach at the Harvard Law School. His subjects were torts, agency, corporations (then a new course), persons, and interpretation of statutes. He had a wide experience in the application of law and an illuminated common sense which checked the excess of mere theory.
In the summer of 1910 he retired from teaching but not from work. Several hours of each day he spent in the Law School library, "learning the law all over again. " Several of his best articles were written in this period.
After a week's illness he died at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, which had long been his summer home.
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Views
Quotations:
As he said later to his students, "I know judges make law - I've done it myself. "
Personality
He had a remarkable gift for remembering persons. Precise and thorough as he was in defining legal rights and duties, he had little respect for the man who always insists on those legal rights, and will not do more than law requires.
Quotes from others about the person
According to Beale, his opinions are "learned without prolixity, full of common sense, but searching first for legal principles, lawyer-like, convincing, sane".
According to Williston, post: "The beauty of his character and the charm of his kindly smile and noble face attracted all with whom he came in contact. He was simple and direct of speech and manner, courteous and unfeignedly democratic in his dealings with all".
Connections
On April 5, 1865, he was married to Hannah M. , daughter of Daniel K. Webster of that city. She died in 1904, leaving a daughter and a son. His son Jeremiah (1870 - 1935) was a noted lawyer, prominent in international affairs, whose work as financial adviser to Hungary after the World War is regarded as saving that country from the consequences of financial ruin.