Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery Determined in the Supreme Court of Colorado Territory to the Present Time (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery Dete...)
Excerpt from Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery Determined in the Supreme Court of Colorado Territory to the Present Time
T Congress was not in session at this time. The appointment was confirmed by the Senate and another commission issued March 2, 1867.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Moses Hallett was an American federal judge, who served as the chief United States Territorial Judge for the District Court for the Territory of Colorado from 1866 to 1877, and the first United States District Judge for the State of Colorado from 1877 to 1906.
Background
Moses Hallett was born on July 16, 1834, in Galena, Illinois, the son of pioneer parents, Moses Hallett, Sr. and Eunice Crowell. His father moved from Massachusetts in the early nineteenth century to engage in farming, first in Missouri and then in Galena, Illinois.
Education
Moses attended Rock River Seminary and Beloit College, and thence went to Chicago to study law in the office of a practising attorney.
Career
Hallett was admitted to the bar in 1858 and practiced law in Chicago. Like many of his contemporaries, he was lured to the Rockies in 1860 by the gold fever. He sought his fortune in the mining districts of Clear Creek and Gilpin counties, but his search was unavailing, and he, therefore, returned to his profession, opening an office in Denver with Hiram P. Bennett. Immediately recognized as a man of ability, Hallett was elected a member of the Council of the third and fourth sessions (1863 - 1865) of the territorial Assembly. It is significant that he served on the judiciary committee during both sessions.
Hallett entered upon his long career as judge in 1866, when President Johnson appointed him chief justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Colorado. He held the office as long as Colorado remained a territory. The chief concern of the inhabitants of that region in the sixties was mining, but the mining law was incomplete and in need of interpretation. Colorado was also a frontier district, and the manners of the people were often as crude as their surroundings. Judge Hallett soon became known as a fearless upholder of the dignity of the court against revolver-carrying frontiersmen.
In 1877, after Colorado entered the Union, Hallett was appointed United States district judge in the district of Colorado, and held office until his resignation in 1906.
He had few interests outside the courtroom, but when the University of Colorado opened its law school in 1892 he was selected as its first dean. He acted in that capacity and as lecturer on, then professor of, American constitutional law and federal jurisprudence until 1902. He was a trustee of the George W. Clayton estate, and largely under his direction, the Clayton College for Orphan Boys was started on its way.
After his retirement from the bench in 1906, he added considerably to his fortune through transactions in real estate. Moses Hallett died on April 25, 1913, in Denver, Colorado.
Though a member of the Episcopal church, Moses Hallett devoted little time to church affairs.
Politics
Though a staunch Republican, Moses Hallett devoted little time to politics.
Membership
Judge Hallett belongs to the University Club and the Masonic fraternity.
Personality
As the years passed his character grew more stern and his rule from the bench more severe. Yet personally Moses Hallett was not popular: kindly toward inexperienced young lawyers, he was severe with all others.
Connections
On February 9, 1882, Moses Hallett married Katharine Felt, a daughter of Lucius S. Felt, a merchant of Galena, Illinois. They had two children.
His wife died on September 19, 1902, and in her honor Judge Hallett built the Katherine Hallett Home for Nurses at St. Luke's Hospital.