James Kent (July 31, 1763 Fredericksburg [1], then Dutchess, now Putnam County, New York – December 12, 1847 New York City) was an American jurist and legal scholar.
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He was the son of Moss Kent, a lawyer from Dutchess County, New York and the first Surrogate of Rensselaer County, New York.[2]
He graduated from Yale College in 1781, having helped establish the Phi Beta Kappa society there in 1780, and began to practice law at Poughkeepsie, New York in 1785 as an attorney, and in 1787 at the bar. In 1791 and 1792-93 Kent was a representative of Dutchess County in the New York State Assembly. In 1793 he removed to New York City, where Governor John Jay, to whom the young lawyer's Federalist sympathies were a strong recommendation, appointed him a master in chancery for the city.
He was the first professor of law in Columbia College in 1793-98 and again served in the Assembly in 1796-97. In 1797 he became recorder of New York, in 1798 a justice of the New York State Supreme Court, in 1804 Chief Justice, and in 1814 chancellor of New York. In 1821 he was a member of the New York State Constitutional Convention. Two years later, Chancellor Kent reached the constitutional age limit and retired from his office, but was re-elected to his former chair. He lived in retirement in Summit, New Jersey between 1837 and 1847 in a simple four-roomed cottage (the original cottage today has been incorporated into a large mansion at 50 Kent Place Boulevard in Summit NJ) which he referred to as 'my Summit Lodge', a name that has been offered as the derivation for the city's name.[3]
He has been long remembered for his Commentaries on American Law (four volumes, published 1826-1830), highly respected in England and America. The Commentaries treated both state, federal and international law, and the law of personal rights and of property, and went through six editions in Kent's lifetime.
Kent rendered his most essential service to American jurisprudence while serving as chancellor. Chancery, or equity law, had been very unpopular during the colonial period, and had received little development, and no decisions had been published. His judgments of this class cover a wide range of topics, and are so thoroughly considered and developed as unquestionably to form the basis of American equity jurisprudence.
He married Elizabeth Bailey, and they had four children: Elizabeth (died in infancy), Elizabeth, Mary, and William Kent (1802-1861) who was a circuit judge and ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York with Washington Hunt in 1852.
His brother Moss Kent was a U.S. Representative.
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by John Lansing, Jr. |
Chancellor of New
York 1814 – 1823 |
Succeeded by Nathan Sanford |
JAMES KENT (1763-1847), American jurist, was born at Philippi in New York State on the 31st of July 1763. He graduated at Yale College in 1781, and began to practise law at Poughkeepsie, in 1785 as an attorney, and in 1787 at the bar. In 1791 and 1792-93 Kent was a representative of Dutchess county in the state Assembly. In 17 9 3 he removed to New York, where Governor Jay, to whom the young lawyer's Federalist sympathies were a strong recommendation, appointed him a master in chancery for the city. He was professor of law in Columbia College in 1793-98 and again served in the Assembly in 1796-97. In 1797 he became recorder of New York, in 1798 judge of the supreme court of the state, in 1804 chief justice, and in 1814 chancellor of New York. In 1822 he became a member of the convention to revise the state constitution. Next year, Chancellor Kent resigned his office and was re-elected to his former chair. Out of the lectures he now delivered grew the Commentaries on American Law (4 vols., 1826-1830), which by their learning, range and lucidity of style won for him a high and permanent place in the estimation of both English and American jurists. Kent rendered most essential service to American jurisprudence while serving as chancellor. Chancery law had been very unpopular during the colonial period, and had received little development, and no decisions had been published. His judgments of this class (see Johnson's Chancery Reports, 7 vols., 1816-1824) cover a wide range of topics, and are so thoroughly considered and developed as unquestionably to form the basis of American equity jurisprudence. Kent was a man of great purity of character and of singular simplicity and guilelessness. He died in New York on the 12th of December 1847.
To Kent we owe several other works (including a Commentary on International Law) of less importance than the Commentaries. See J. Duer's Discourse on the Life, Character and Public Services of James Kent (1848); The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, vol. ii. (1852); W. Kent, Memoirs and Letters of Chancellor Kent (Boston, 1898).
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William Kent >> |
   | James Kent: Commentaries on American Law - James Kent: Commentaries on American Law |
| | The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York: Commentaries on Chancellor Kent - Commentaries on Chancellor Kent |
| | "A Transit Hub With a Thriving Downtown" - A Transit Hub With a Thriving Downtown - The New York Times |
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