Background
Simon was born on July 23, 1839 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and was a son of Henry and Regina Sterne.
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Simon was born on July 23, 1839 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and was a son of Henry and Regina Sterne.
He attended public schools in Philadelphia. Later, he traveled in Europe and for a short period studied at the University of Heidelberg. On his return he began preparation for the practice of law in the offices of George Sharswood and John H. Markland. In 1859 he was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with the degree of LL. B.
In 1859 he was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia, moving to New York in 1860, he was admitted to the bar there and began a successful practice and an active and varied career in promoting civic improvement.
In 1863 he gave a series of lectures on economics at Cooper Institute. He wrote leading articles for the New York Commercial Advertiser, the property of one of his clients, and in 1865 he became editor of the New York Social Science Review.
While in England in 1865 he obtained permission from Thomas Hare to adapt his ideas of representation to American conditions. The result was the founding of the Personal Representation Society, which advocated cumulative voting and induced the Illinois constitutional convention of 1870 to adopt it.
In 1875 he assisted, as a member of Governor Tilden's commission, in devising a uniform plan of government for the cities of New York state. He served on a commission appointed by Governor Morton in 1895 to suggest improvements in the methods of legislation.
When the Hepburn committee of the New York Assembly met to inquire into alleged abuses (1879), he appeared as counsel for the board of trade and transportation and the chamber of commerce and practically conducted the investigation. The report of this committee was followed by the passage of the state railroad commission act of 1882, which he drafted.
He later drafted essential provisions of the federal Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, incorporating the results of an extensive private investigation into the relations between railroads and the state in western Europe.
He was employed as counsel by the Interstate Commerce Commission; by several large railway systems; by Northern friends of Jefferson Davis in 1865; by the bondholders of Louisiana in their suit in the Supreme Court against the state; and by Mark Twain and Joaquin Miller in copyright cases.
In the course of his practice he secured important additions to the common law of New York--that elevated railroad companies are liable for damages for obstructing the passage of light and air; that the existence of a strike is no excuse for a common carrier to refuse to receive and forward freight; and that telephone service is analogous to that rendered by a common carrier.
He died from an apoplectic stroke in his sixty-third year and was buried from Temple Emanu-El in New York City.
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He believed that the common law of railroads, which had been adapted from the rules relating to highways and canals, was inadequate to guarantee proper service to the public and safety to investors.
He was a member of the Personal Representation Society.
His writings, though marred by prolixity, show originality of thought and keen analysis of contemporary conditions. His most prominent personal traits were large sympathy, determination, intellectual enthusiasm, and mental agility.
He married Mathilde Elsberg on June 8, 1870, they had a daughter.