. The life and times of Thomas Smith, 1745-1809, a Pennsylvania member of the Continental congress . t present, and, consequently,presided over the deliberations of the High Court, in theabsence of the venerable President, Benjamin Chew, whohad presided until the year before, at the advanced age ofeighty-two years. There was an attempt to have JudgeChew preside in July, 1805, when the city members heardhe was to be in town. They had met at the court houseand there was no quorum, so they adjourned to the houseof Chief Justice Shippen, in Fourth street; Judges Shippen,Smith and Rush went from th
. The life and times of Thomas Smith, 1745-1809, a Pennsylvania member of the Continental congress . t present, and, consequently,presided over the deliberations of the High Court, in theabsence of the venerable President, Benjamin Chew, whohad presided until the year before, at the advanced age ofeighty-two years. There was an attempt to have JudgeChew preside in July, 1805, when the city members heardhe was to be in town. They had met at the court houseand there was no quorum, so they adjourned to the houseof Chief Justice Shippen, in Fourth street; Judges Shippen,Smith and Rush went from there to President Qiews townhouse, but still there was no quorum. So far as known, 1 I Binney, 18. In a letter of February 23, 1799, to Judge Yeatesabout this case and hinting at these views, he says: I believe thematter is differently considered here, but should we even ultimatelyall think alike, the question is of that nature, that it is incumbenton us to give the reasons of our judgment with the utmost legalprecision, which will be still more necessary if we should 3 y Ti y? O - < g o A PERIOD OF POLITICAL IMPEACHMENTS 261 however, that is the last time this remarkable man metwith the Judges, although he lived to the great age ofeighty-eight years, and even survived Judge Smith him-self. It seems to be almost a tribute to President Chewthat when age incapacitated him, the highest of the tri-bunals, of which he was the head for considerably over adecade, should be abolished, as it was the following year,ahhough allowed two years in which to close up its busi-ness. The meeting above mentioned, at President Chewsresidence, was also notable in another respect, in that itwas the last meeting of the High Court that the othervenerable Judge, Chief Justice Shippen, ever attended. With these two notable changes in the two high tri-bunals, Judge Smith became, next to Judge Yeates, thesenior member of both courts, and a period of his life isthereby marke
Size: 1371px × 1822px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidlifetimesoft, bookyear1904
