Cases Argued and Determined in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors, in the State of New-York. 1796-1805, Volumes 1-2
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Reports of cases adjudged in the Court of Chancery of New-York: containing the cases from March, 1814 to July, 1823 ... inclusive
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William Johnson was an American law reporter. He was the author of more than 30 volumes of law cases reports.
Background
Johnson was born on December 17, 1769, in Middletown, Connecticut, the third son of Asahel and Eunice (Wetmore) Johnson. His ancestors were among the pioneer settlers of Connecticut. His maternal grandfather, Deacon Caleb Wetmore, a farmer of Middletown, was a descendant of Thomas Whitmore who came to America from England in 1635, acquired lands at Wethersfield, and was made a freeman at Hartford in 1652. From this record we may infer that he was orthodox, the qualification necessary for a freeman.
Education
Johnson graduated from Yale College in 1788, studied law, and established his practice in New York City. At the Yale Commencement, 1793, he delivered an oration before the Phi Beta Kappa society on the "Political Situations and Prospects of the United States and the Nature and Effects of National Luxury and Vice. "
Career
In 1806 Johnson was appointed reporter for the court of errors and for the supreme court of New York, succeeding the first reporter, George Caines, who had been appointed in 1804. He served until 1823, and by the Act of April 13, 1814, making the reporter of the supreme court the reporter of the court of chancery, he became reporter of the latter court also. He was such throughout the brilliant career of Chancellor Kent. At this time the courts of the United States were looking to England for decisions and principles on which to establish their rules of law.
Johnson recognized that the American system of jurisprudence was based on that of England, yet so few of the court decisions at Westminster Hall were applicable to American cases that he considered it necessary to look to American decisions for the precedents which should have the binding force of authority and of law. He therefore made it his purpose to record not only the cases of his time, but also earlier decisions so far as he could obtain authentic materials. His publications include: Report of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature and in the Court for Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors, February 1806 - February 1823 (20 volumes); Cases Argued and Determined in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, 1799-1803 (3 vols. , 1806-1812); and Cases of the State Court of Chancery, March 1814 - July 1823 (7 vols. , 1816-1824). He also translated from the French edition, and published in 1806, Sistema Universale dei principii del diritto marittimo dell'Europa, by D. A. Azuni.
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Personality
In dedicating his Commentaries to Johnson, Chancellor Kent paid tribute to the value of his friendship and of his services, and Judge Story in reviewing Johnson's reports said of him, "He loves the law with all his heart. No lawyer can ever express a better wish for his country's jurisprudence than that it may possess such a Chancellor and such a reporter. "
Connections
On June 17, 1809, in New York City, Johnson married Maria, daughter of Oliver and Catherine Templeton, by whom he had four children.