To: GOPcapitalist
Hamilton was the leading lawyer in his day in New York. He was acknowledged as such by such as Chancellor Kent and many others, few (other than you) dispute this fact. When the Coswell trial was held in Albany the entire state government including the legislature shut down for lack of a quorum because they wanted to see Hamilton.
Hamilton's notes to study for the bar were subsequently used by would-be lawyers for decades.
His role in Rutgers v. Waddington was paramount and established the supremacy of treaties over state law.
His arguments changed the way maritime insurance was determined.
Coke, and Hale are rarely studied in Law Schools and almost none have courses devoted to them. As far as Marshall his opinion of Hamilton could not be higher. He said that compared to Hamilton's legal reasoning his own was like a "taper to the sun." Marshall considered him to be America's greatest lawyer.
Hamilton's law practice has been studied extensively and its greatest student, Goebel, has produced a multi-volume study of over a thousand pages.
Any praise I have given him is totally justified and perhaps not extensive enough. His other achievements have caused less attention to be paid to his legal abilities.
Perhaps the greatest example of his knowledge of and ability to explain the law and debate its points is the ratification convention of New York State. There he, almost single-handedly, converted a two to one majority against the constitution to a majority in support. None could stand against his arguments even though determined to defeat the constitution. Even Clinton's party hacks were powerless.
829 posted on
09/16/2003 9:23:27 AM PDT by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree. Bush must be destroyed.)
To: justshutupandtakeit
Hamilton was the leading lawyer in his day in New York. He was acknowledged as such by such as Chancellor Kent and many others, few (other than you) dispute this fact. Once again, NOBODY disputes that Hamilton was a skilled and generally well regarded lawyer. I do dispute your near-worshipful fawning over him though in which you try to pass him off as the greatest lawyer of all time or something very close to that. The fact is he simply was not. I have already given you easily half a dozen or more names of other lawyers who were by far more distinguished and famous AS LAWYERS than Hamilton, distinguished as he was, ever became in either his own lifetime or after it.
Coke, and Hale are rarely studied in Law Schools and almost none have courses devoted to them.
Oh really? A semester of English-American legal history is commonplace in law programs. Coke and Hale are standard in practically all of these courses.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson