(Excerpt from Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in th...)
Excerpt from Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, During the Years 1846-7 Cage, ex'r. Vs. Wells st als. 195 Caldwell, Monteeth vs. 13 Caldwell, Run an vs. 134 Caldwell an Hunter. 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.
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Humphreys was born on August 26, 1806 in Montgomery County, Tennessee. He was the son of Parry Wayne Humphreys, a circuit judge and member of Congress, and his wife, Mary (West) Humphreys. Parry Humphreys' father was a silversmith of Welsh descent, who moved to Kentucky from Virginia.
West entered Transylvania University, but his health failed and the rest of his general education was obtained in schools of Montgomery County. Having studied law in his father's office in Nashville, Tenn. , and attended lectures at Lexington, Ky. , he was licensed to practise in Tennessee in 1828.
The region between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers had been opened to settlement by the treaty of Shelby and Jackson with the Chickasaw Indians, and young Humphreys removed to Somerville in the new county of Fayette in the "Western District. " He was that county's delegate to the constitutional convention of 1834, and was influential as chairman of the committee on legislation. In 1835 he was unsuccessful as an anti-Jackson candidate for governor – the first to offer from West Tennessee. He served in the lower house of the General Assembly, 1835-38.
Elected attorney general of the state and reporter of the decisions of the Tennessee supreme court, he served two terms, 1839-51. Removing to Nashville he won distinction by editing Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1839 to 1851. Upon returning to regular practice, he was soon appointed United States district judge of the three districts of Tennessee, and commissioned March 26, 1853. Before and during his tenure as judge the opinions of the lower Federal courts were not officially published by the government, and private enterprise was not tempted to enter the field of law-reporting. There is therefore no gauge by which to measure the ability of the judges of those courts. Humphreys, however, gave satisfactory service on the bench.
When the Civil War was approaching he advocated the right of secession; and upon Tennessee's entering into a compact with the Confederate States of America he accepted in 1862 a commission from that government for the district judgeship of Tennessee, and held the courts. He was impeached as a Federal judge by the lower house of Congress and tried upon seven articles by the Senate. Not appearing or pleading, he was found guilty and disqualified to hold any office under the Federal government, June 26, 1862. On the crucial article of impeachment--that he had acted as a judge of the Confederacy – the vote was thirty-six "guilty, " only Senator Grimes voting "not guilty. " On the charge that he had as a judge decreed confiscation of the property of Andrew Johnson, military governor, and John Catron, justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he was found not guilty by a vote of twelve to twenty-four. At the end of the war Judge Humphreys returned to the bar, but not to an active practice.
He was an independent thinker. This is evident from his advocacy of prohibition of the liquor traffic. He published Suggestions on the Subject of Bank Charters (1859), Some Suggestions on the Subject of Monopolies and Special Charters (1859), and An Address on the Use of Alcoholic Liquors and Its Consequences (1879). His death occurred at the residence of his son-in-law, near Nashville.
(Excerpt from Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in th...)
He was portly and handsome, and is said to have been of judicial temperament, though somewhat restless on the bench.
In January 1839 he married Amanda M. Pillow, sister of Gideon J. Pillow.
