American National Biography: Craig Joyce Entries

What follows are listings, by page, of two entries to American National Biography, both concerning early Reporters of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, by contributing author Craig Joyce: 5:664 – “William Cranch” describes the service of its subject as the U.S. Supreme Court’s Second Reporter of Decisions. When the Court arrived in Washington from Philadelphia in 1801, Cranch, a District of Columbia judge, took on also from Alexander James Dallas the task of reporting the newly arrived tribunal’s decisions, in his own instance motivated primarily by a desire to bequeath the nation the gift of useful precedents. Law reporting as a private venture, however, remained difficult and unremunerative. Although the Justices often furnished what opinion notes they had, both they and the bar complained of inaccuracies in Cranch’s product. Also, while the number of cases reported annually had quadrupled since Dallas’s time, many concerned maritime matters of little interest to potential purchasers. Burdened by the expense of producing his reports, Cranch fell increasingly behind schedule. He left the reportership in 1815, and his last volumes were so tardy that Chief Justice Marshall attributed them to his successor, Henry Wheaton. Still, Cranch had kept “the chain of cases . . . complete,” a result he rightly characterized to Dallas at the outset as “important to the stability of our national jurisprudence.” 23:123 – “Henry Wheaton” describes the service of its subject as the U.S. Supreme Court’s Third Reporter of Decisions. Wheaton achieved appointment by the Court through the efforts of his friend and fellow scholar, Joseph Story. He revolutionized the functions of his office, personally attending the Court’s sessions, reporting the arguments of counsel and the opinions of the Justices with an accuracy lacking in his predecessors’ reports and, in a remarkable departure from prior practice, publishing each volume annually. He also heavily annotated his reports, occasionally assisted anonymously by Story, with scholarly meditations on topics germane to the cases just decided. Wheaton’s service spanned the epochal years from Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816) to Ogden v. Saunders (1827). Upon Wheaton’s death, a German obituary proclaimed his twelve volumes “the golden book of American national law,” owing in significant part to Wheaton’s own contributions. Wheaton’s career following the reportership included rancorous litigation, in Wheaton v. Peters, 33 U.S. 591 (1834), with his successor, Richard Peters, Jr., over copyright ownership in parts of Wheaton’s reports. Peters won financially in the immediate decision by the Supreme Court, but Wheaton achieved a measure of vindication 16 years later when, upon remand, and after both men had died, Peter’s estate settled the litigation for $400. In the interim, Wheaton had served with distinction as a diplomat under six presidents and achieved renown on both sides of the Atlantic for publishing Elements of International Law (1836) and History of the Law of Nations (1845). Subsequent editions of Elements extended Wheaton’s influence on international law well into the 20th Century.