John Yates

February 18, 1779 (age 59)

Albany, New York, United States

Yates's edition of the History of New York by William Smith, 1728-1793, with a continuation to 1747 by the editor, appeared in 1814 and his Collection of Pleadings and Practical Precedents with Notes Thereon in 1837. He was the author of several other legal works. His failure to collaborate with J. W. Moulton in a History of the State of New York (1824-1826), the first volume of which bears his name, is one evidence of his erratic nature. His principles were democratic and his policies Democratic-Republican. Yates was a member of the committee appointed by the Albany Common Council to petition the legislature to provide for the construction of the first state capitol. On April 2, 1806, he was appointed captain of a company of light infantry in an Albany regiment which a year later offered its services to the president in case of war with England. In 1808 he became involved in a controversy with Chancellor John Lansing which brought the court of chancery into conflict with the supreme court of the state. Yates, a master in chancery that year, commenced a suit in the name of P. W. Yates without the latter's knowledge and was imprisoned by the Chancellor on the ground that attorneys and solicitors in chancery were required by law, before bringing suit in the name of another attorney, to obtain the latter's consent. Yates's counsel, Thomas Addis Emmet, obtained his client's release on a writ of habeas corpus issued by the supreme court. Recommitted by the Chancellor, Yates appealed to the court of errors, where his arrest was declared illegal. He failed, however, in a subsequent suit against the Chancellor for false imprisonment. Most of Yates's appointments to public office he received as a partisan of the Clintons. He served twice as recorder of Albany (1808-1809; 1811-1816), one term in the Assembly (1819), and eight years as secretary of state of New York (1818-1826). He died at Albany, survived by his wife and several children.