The General Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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International Law. Case Of The Trent. Capture And Surrender Of Mason And Slidell
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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.
Joel Parker was born on January 25, 1795 in Jaffrey, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. He was descended from Abraham Parker, a native of Wiltshire, England, who had settled in Woburn, Massachussets, by 1645. His father, Abel Parker, a Revolutionary soldier, was married in 1777 to Edith Jewett of Pepperell and three years later moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire and cleared a farm.
Education
Joel Parker studied at Groton Academy and at Dartmouth, graduating in 1811.
Career
In 1821, Joel Parker went to Ohio with a view to opening an office, but he returned in 1822 to resume his practice at Keene. He followed the law with singleness of purpose and achieved a success which was substantial but not sudden. In 1833 he was appointed to the superior court, the highest court in the state, and five years later was promoted to be chief justice. As a trial judge he inspired juries with courage. Lawyers might call him obstinate, but as a colleague explained, this was excusable in a judge who was almost always right. In deciding cases he reasoned to his own conclusions. This independence came to notice through his clash with Justice Story. The New Hampshire court gave one construction to the word lien in the Bankruptcy Act of 1841, while Story (who had framed the act) enforced a contrary view in the federal circuit court. Neither would recede, but after Story's death the Supreme Court upheld Parker's construction. On November 1847, Parker was appointed Royall Professor of Law at Harvard.
On June, he resigned from the bench after having moved to Cambridge. In his new position he was ill at ease and was tempted to go back to New Hampshire. The moot court was a pleasure, but lecturing required a painful adaptation, and he had to begin with unfamiliar subjects. His method was formal and thorough rather than vivid. The poorer men could not follow. "His law was exasperatingly sound; but he could no more give a comprehensive view of a whole topic than an oyster, busy in perfecting its single pearl, can range over the ocean floor". Yet such men as Joseph Choate and Henry Billings Brown found him a fountain of knowledge, and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, another pupil, referred to him as "one of the greatest of American judges, who showed in the chair the same qualities that made him famous on the bench". In 1868 he resigned his professorship. For years the great triumvirate, Parker, Theophilus Parsons, and Emory Washburn, had reported that "there have been no new arrangements in relation to the organization of the School or the course of instruction.
Unlike Langdell who presently came to invigorate the school, Parker in his methods had not been ahead of his time. He served in the New Hampshire legislature for three years (1824, 1825, 1826), as delegate from Cambridge to the constitutional convention of 1853, and as commissioner to revise the statutes of Massachusetts. When Sumner was attacked he made a speech of protest which, according to a correspondent to the Edinburgh Review, "for earnestness and solemnity of denunciation has not been anywhere surpassed. " He opposed the doctrine that secession was constitutional and criticised Taney's opinion in the Merryman case. He defended the capture of Mason and Slidell. But as the drama of war and Reconstruction unfolded, his conservative nature recoiled. The Republicans had "dug the grave of the Constitution".
When Parker's conduct or opinions were impeached, he retaliated. "A good stand-up fight was meat and drink to him". He was especially irritated by clergymen who argued that the president might abolish slavery, saying that their "impudent assumption" that they had a greater knowledge of constitutional law than men trained to the profession was a "nuisance. "
Joel Parker published more than a score of articles and pamphlets, among which may be mentioned Daniel Webster as a Jurist (1852), Non-Extension of Slavery, and Constitutional Representation (1856), Personal Liberty Laws (Statutes of Massachusetts) and Slavery in the Territories (1861), Habeas Corpus and Martial Law (1862), International Law (1862), The War Powers of Congress, and of the President (1863), Revolution and Reconstruction (1866), and The Three Powers of Government. The Origin of the United States, and the Status of Southern States (1869).
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Politics
Joel Parker was a member of Whig party, but then joined a Republican party. Conservative in politics, he opposed during the Civil War the exercise by the President of what he deemed unconstitutional powers.
Personality
At home and among friends Joel Parker was affectionate. Students invited to dine were surprised to find he could regard a glass of wine with real enjoyment, and that he was witty.
Interests
Joel Parker read poetry and loved flowers.
Connections
On January 20, 1848, Joel Parker was married to Mary Morse Parker, of Keene.