Horace Gray
Horace Gray | |
---|---|
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
In office January 9, 1882[1] – September 15, 1902[1] | |
Nominated by | Chester Arthur |
Preceded by | Nathan Clifford |
Succeeded by | Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. |
Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court | |
In office September 5, 1873 – January 9, 1882 | |
Nominated by | William Washburn |
Preceded by | Reuben Chapman |
Succeeded by | Marcus Morton |
Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court | |
In office August 23, 1864 – September 5, 1873 | |
Nominated by | John Andrew |
Preceded by | Pliny Merrick |
Succeeded by | Charles Devens |
Personal details | |
Born | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | March 24, 1828
Died | September 15, 1902 (aged 74) Nahant, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse |
Jane Matthews (m. 1889) |
Education | Harvard University (AB, LLB) |
Signature | |
Horace Gray (March 24, 1828 – September 15, 1902) was an American
Early life
Gray was born in
Judicial career
Massachusetts state courts
In 1854, he was named
Gray was appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court as an associate justice in 1864. At age 36, he was the youngest appointee in the Court's history. Nine years later he was elevated to
United States Supreme Court
In December 1881,
As he had been in Massachusetts, Gray was also the first U.S. Supreme Court justice to hire a law clerk. He used his own funds to pay the clerk's salary, as no government money was appropriated for this purpose at the time.[8] Additionally, he was one of the few Supreme Court appointees in the latter half of the 19th century who had not previously been a politician, and he maintained the opinion that law and politics were entirely separate fields.
Two years after joining the Court, He wrote the majority opinion in
The most enduring of his written opinions is the one he authored in Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York v. Hillmon (1892), which held that a declarant's out-of-court statement of his intention to do something or go somewhere in the future is admissible under the "state-of-mind" hearsay exception. "The letters in question were competent, not as narratives of facts communicated to [Walters] by others, nor yet as proof that he actually went away from Wichita, but as evidence that, shortly before the time when other evidence tended to show that he went away, he had the intention of going, and of going with Hillmon, which made it more probable both that he did go and that he went with Hillmon, than if there had been no proof of such intention." This holding was subsequently codified in Rule 803(3) of the Federal Rules of Evidence,[9] as well as the evidence laws in most states.
Gray was also the author of the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruling that "a child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicil and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China, becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States.".[10]
He joined the majority in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895), a 5–4 ruling that the unapportioned income taxes on interest, dividends and rents imposed by the Income Tax Act of 1894 were unconstitutional. This case was heard twice, though only the second hearing resulted in a decision; the justices, feeling that the opinions written had not adequately explained their view of the situation, wished to rehear the case. After the first hearing, Gray wrote that he sided with the defendant (Farmer's Loan & Trust), arguing that the tax was indeed constitutional. He was in the minority, however. After the second hearing, Gray changed his stance, joining with the majority in favor of the plaintiff. He also sided with the majority in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), a 7–1 ruling that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality.
Gray served on the US Supreme Court for over 20 years, until his death on September 15, 1902. He was succeeded by a fellow Massachusetts native, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who, like Gray, previously served on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[2]
Personal life
He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1860,[11] and in 1866, was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[12]
In 1889, Gray married Jane Matthews (1860–1949), daughter of fellow associate justice Stanley Matthews.[2]
Gray's half-brother, John Chipman Gray, was long-time professor at Harvard Law School, and is noted for his formative text on the rule against perpetuities.[13]
He is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
His home in Washington, D.C. later became the site of the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, which was demolished in 2014.[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Justices 1789 to Present". supremecourt.gov. Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8160-4194-7. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ^ "Horace Gray | United States jurist | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
- ^ "Timeline of the Justices: Horace Gray, 1882-1902". The Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
- ^ "Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and students of the Law School of Harvard University 1817–1889". Digitized August 8, 2012 by Google Books. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Law School. 1890. p. 43. Archived from the original on May 10, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ a b c "Horace Gray, 1882-1902". supremecourthistory.org. Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court Historical Society. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-5382-1. Archivedfrom the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2013.
- ^ Gur-Arie, Mira (November 22–26, 2004). "Legal and Court Staff in the United States Judiciary: Seminar on the Management of the Assistant Personnel to Judges (Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China)" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ^ "Federal Rules of Evidence: Rule 803. Exceptions to the Rule Against Hearsay". law.cornell.edu. Ithaca, New York: Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Archived from the original on December 28, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ^ United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 705 (1898)
- ^ "American Antiquarian Society Members Directory". Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter G" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 18, 2006. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
- JSTOR 1326405.
- ^ "Then and Now: Northwest Corner of 16th and I Streets, NW". Washington Kaleidoscope: past, present, and culture. May 29, 2009. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
Further reading
- Spector, Robert M. (1968). "Legal Historian on the United States Supreme Court: Justice Horace Gray, Jr., and the Historical Method". American Journal of Legal History. 12 (3). Temple University: 181–210. JSTOR 844125.
- Koslosky, Daniel Ryan, "Ghosts of Horace Gray: Customary International Law as Expectation in Human Rights Litigation" 97 Kentucky Law Journal 615 (2009)