Joseph Story (1779–1845) was an American lawyer, jurist, and scholar who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1812–45.) Among early American jurisprudence’s most influential figures, he shaped constitutional law and legal education.
Born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Story graduated from Harvard College (1798,) was admitted to the bar (1801,) and quickly gained prominence. In 1812, President James Madison appointed him to the Supreme Court, making him its youngest justice. He played a key role in Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816) and United States v. The Amistad (1841,) reinforcing federal authority and individual rights. Beyond the Court, he was a professor at Harvard Law School, helping to establish legal education in America.
His most significant scholarly work, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833,) shaped constitutional interpretation. Other notable publications include The Law of Bailments (1832,) Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence (1836,) and Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws (1834,) influencing generations of legal scholars.
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It is only the nature of their education that puts a woman at such disadvantage, and keeps up the notion that they are our inferiors in ability.—The best sources of knowledge are shut off from them, and the surprise is that they manage to keep so abreast of us as they do.
—Joseph Story
Topics: Woman
Human wisdom is the aggregate of all human experience, constantly accumulating, selecting, and reorganizing its own materials.
—Joseph Story
Topics: Wisdom
Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people in order to betray them.
—Joseph Story
Topics: Flattery
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