Background
Morris, Richard, , New York 1730 1810 Male Jurist jurist, was the third son of Lewis Morris, second lord of the manor of Morrisania, and Tryntje (Staats) Morris, and a brother of Gen. Lewis Morris [q. v. ], signer of the Declaration of Independence.
His father, who was judge of the court of vice-admiralty, named him deputy and authorized him to hold court in New Jersey.
In 1762, under a royal commission issued in the high court of admiralty at London, he became judge of the vice-admiralty court having jurisdiction over New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, a position which his father and grandfather had filled before him.
Career
He was admitted to the bar in 1752, the year his half-brother, Gouverneur [q. v. ], was born.
His hesitation in embracing the Patriot cause was responsible for his citation in June 1776 (Peter Force, American Archives, 4 ser.
Meanwhile, he had been appointed in 1779 to succeed John Jay as chief justice of the supreme court of the state.
The record indicates that he was absent when the final vote resulted in favor of ratification.
Accordingly the nomination went to Robert Yates.
Following the Revolutionary War he had purchased several farms in the town of Greenburgh and a delightful country-seat in Scarsdale.
[M. A. Hamm, Famous Families of N. Y. (1901), vol.
II; Peter Force, Am.
Archives, 4 ser.
(6 vols. , 1837 - 46), 5 ser.
(3 vols. , 1848 - 53); E. B. O'Callaghan, Calendar of Hist.
MSS. , 1664-1776, pt.
II (1866); E. A. Werner, Civil List of .
N. Y. (1889); Charles M. Hough, Reports of Cases in the Vice-Admiralty of the Province of N. Y. (1925); E. C. Benedict, The Am.
Admiralty (1850); J. C. Hamilton, The Works of Alexander Hamilton, II (1850), 478-79; N. Y. Evening Post, Apr. 13, 1810. ]
Politics
He played no part in the rising revolt against British authority, but in the autumn of 1775 he tendered his resignation to Governor Tryon, who urged him to retain his post until the political disturbances of the period should be quieted.
