Joel Hinman was an American jurist and lawyer. He served as a Connecticut State Senator and later Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
Background
Joel Hinman was born on January 27, 1802 in Southbury, Connecticut, United States. He was the twelfth of the fifteen children of Joel and Sarah (Curtis) Hinman. He was descended from Edward Hinman, said to have been of the bodyguard of Charles I, who settled in Stratford, Connecticut, about 1650. Both his father and his grandfather, Colonel Benjamin Hinman, served as officers in the Revolutionary War. Later his father became a prosperous farmer in Southbury.
Education
Young Hinman received a common-school education and then began the study of the law. He first studied with Judge Chapman at Newtown and later in the firm of Staples & Hitchcock at New Haven.
Career
Shortly after reaching his majority, Hinman was admitted to the New Haven County bar and settled in Waterbury to practise law. In 1830 he was appointed a judge of probate for the Waterbury district and held this office for ten years. Having taken an active interest in party politics, he was elected to represent the 5th district in the state Senate in 1836 and was reelected for the succeeding term. He then served as a member of the House of Representatives for the town of Waterbury.
In 1842, while a member of the House, he was elected a judge of the superior and supreme courts, thereby winning the distinction of being the youngest man up to that time elevated to that position. There was little in Hinman's record to warrant his receiving this honor.
The limited practice of a country lawyer provided no incentive for wide legal research and it had only been upon rare occasions that he had displayed any considerable knowledge of the law. He was recognized as a leader, however, and his elevation to the bench gave him some inducement to exert himself and an opportunity to display his native qualities of mind. After some nineteen years on the bench he became the chief justice, a post which he held until his death.
Achievements
Personality
During his career as a legislator Hinman spoke seldom and never at length, and in the active practice of his profession he was slow of utterance, indolent, and unmethodical.
His opinions, contained in twenty volumes of the Connecticut Reports, are simple and direct, and are remarkable for their practical common sense rather than for their erudition.
Hinman was an unusually heavy person and was slow and ponderous in his movements. For forty years he maintained the same style in dress and was always to be seen in frock coat and full broad-ruffled shirt.
Connections
On October 9, 1825, Hinman married Maria Alathea Scovill of Waterbury. They had four children.