Samuel Kalisch was an American jurist. He was a justice of the supreme court of New Jersey Court from 1911 to 1930.
Background
Samuel Kalisch was born on April 18, 1851, at Cleveland, Ohio, United States, the third son of Rabbi Isidor and Charlotte (Bankman) Kalisch. His childhood and youth were spent in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Leavenworth, and New York, as his father took positions in these cities. In 1870 the father accepted a pastorate in Newark, New Jersey, which, with an interruption of three years, was henceforward to be Samuel Kalisch's home.
Education
Kalisch was educated in the public schools of Detroit and Leavenworth, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from Columbia Law School in 1870. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1871.
Career
In 1871 Kalisch began to develop a considerable law practice in Newark. His clientele consisted largely of members of labor organizations, and it is said that he declined many retainers offered by corporations. In both his civil and criminal practice he was remarkably successful before juries and upon appeal. He is said to have been the first attorney in New Jersey to obtain the release of a convict from the state prison on a writ of habeas corpus. He often established legal precedents, and his energy and legal acumen are evidenced in the many cases in which he figured as counsel, recorded in 37-81 New Jersey Reports and in the state Equity Reports.
In 1875 Kalisch was city attorney of Newark in 1875, and was the Democratic nominee for the New Jersey Assembly in 1879 and for the state Senate in 1899 and in 1902, but was not elected to either body. In 1911 he was appointed by Governor Woodrow Wilson as a justice of the supreme court of New Jersey, and at the expiration of his term in 1918 he was reappointed by Governor Edge (Republican), and again in 1925 by Governor Silzer.
His judicial circuits brought him to Atlantic County, which had been for a quarter of a century notorious for graft, election frauds, and open gambling under protection of political bosses. Grand juries selected by servile sheriffs had repeatedly failed to bring indictments. In 1922, Kalisch astonished the state by disqualifying the sheriff from selecting the special grand jury. Resorting to a century-old statute, he appointed elisors (electors) for that function. As a result, an independent grand jury indicted the sheriff and many others. As a further result, elisors were also named in investigations in Morris and Hudson counties.
Kalisch inherited some of his father's literary ability, and wrote poems and essays. In 1886 he published In Memoriam: Reverend Dr. Isidor Kalisch, a biographical sketch of his father. In 1928, he elaborated this sketch and incorporated it in a volume wherein he reprinted several of his father's writings, under the title Studies in Ancient and Modern Judaism. Selected Writings of Rabbi Isidor Kalisch. His articles on "Legal Abuse, " published in a Newark newspaper in 1872, had a widespread effect in remedying certain defects in the judiciary.
Achievements
Politics
Kalisch was a leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party.
Membership
Kalisch was a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of numerous professional organizations. In 1909-1910 he was president of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
Personality
Kalisch had a dignified presence and an attractive personality. However hot and pressing a legal argument might be, he always maintained his equanimity, and pursued his course with calm, convincing, persuasive reasoning.
Interests
As a hobby Kalisch collected books and autographs.
Connections
On April 26, 1877, Kalisch married Caroline Elizabeth Baldwin of Newark.