Henry Wheaton

(b. Providence, R.I., 27 Nov. 1785; d. Dorchester, Mass., 11 Mar. 1848), third reporter of decisions, 1816–1827. The ablest of the early reporters, Wheaton redefined the office and greatly improved the quality of the product. His 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 the reporter's contributions.

Unlike his self‐appointed predecessors, Wheaton became reporter through selection by the Supreme Court, held an office recognized by law (as of 1816), and received a modest salary. His sponsor was Justice Joseph Story, a fellow scholar and perfectionist who valued Wheaton's learning and determination. The two roomed together when in Washington and sought to create a comprehensive, coherent body of national law, relying where appropriate on British and continental analogues.

Wheaton attended court sessions faithfully, reported arguments and opinions accurately, and published each volume within the year, thereby enabling bench and bar to know promptly the rulings of the nation's highest court. In addition, aided occasionally (but anonymously) by Story, Wheaton enhanced his Reports with unprecedented annotations, elucidating particular points in opinions or exploring entire areas of developing law, apropos the business of the term.

Wheaton's career following the reportership was equally notable. He engaged in lengthy litigation with his successor, Richard Peters, Jr., concerning Wheaton's rights in his Reports. This case, Wheaton v. Peters (1834), established the major contours of American copyright law. As a diplomat, Wheaton served with distinction under six presidents. As an expounder and historian of international law, he achieved renown on both sides of the Atlantic, 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 twentieth century.

Of Wheaton's contributions to American jurisprudence, his contemporary William Pinkney's observation, occasioned by publication of Wheaton's first volume of Reports, is apt: “The Profession [is] infinitely indebted to you. …”

See also Reporters, Supreme Court.

Bibliography

• Morris L. Cohen and Sharon Hamby O'Connor, A Guide to the Early Reports of the Supreme Court of the United States (1995), pp. 35–59.
• Craig Joyce, The Rise of the Supreme Court Reporter: An Institutional Perspective on Marshall Court Ascendancy, Michigan Law Review 83 (1985): 1291–1391.
• Sandra Day O'Connor, The Majesty of the Law:Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice, edited by Craig Joyce (2003), chapter 4, The Supreme Court Reports, pp. 24–30

— Craig Joyce

Henry Wheaton served as the reporter of decisions for the U.S. Supreme Court and later became a diplomat and a scholar of international law. Wheaton is recognized for establishing a high level of accuracy, timeliness, and scholarship for Supreme Court reporters. A dispute with his successor, however, lead to a landmark case that had a profound effect on U.S. copyright law and public information.

Wheaton was born on November 27, 1785, in Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated from Rhode Island College (today known as Brown University) and then studied law in France in 1802. Upon his return that year he established a law practice in Providence.

Wheaton became a friend and colleague of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, who shared Wheaton's passion for legal scholarship. In 1816 Story persuaded Wheaton to move to Washington, D.C., and take the position of reporter of decisions for the Court. Wheaton agreed, becoming the first paid reporter recognized by law.

Wheaton attended court sessions, accurately reported oral arguments and the written decisions of the Court, collected the decisions, and then published them within one year. Wheaton became the first reporter to supply annotations with the Court's decisions, sometimes anonymously assisted by Story. In 1820 Wheaton consolidated prior Court decisions into A Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789 to 1820.

In 1827 Wheaton left the reporter position and entered the U.S. foreign service. He served as chargé d'affaires (a diplomatic representative below ambassador) in Denmark from 1827 to 1835. He became adept at treaty negotiations and was made chargé d'affaires to the Prussian court in 1835. In 1837 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary and served in that position until 1846.

Wheaton was a noted writer and legal scholar. He published A History of the Northmen in 1831, in which he argued that Scandinavian explorers had landed on the North American continent several centuries before the expedition of Christopher Columbus. Wheaton also published Elements of International Law (1836) and A History of the Law of Nations (1845).

Wheaton became embroiled in a legal dispute with Richard Peters, Jr., his successor as Supreme Court reporter, over Peters's use of Wheaton's published case decisions. Wheaton lost the right to control the copyright of decisions that he had reported, in the process giving the Supreme Court the opportunity to clarify the boundaries between common law and statutory copyright.

Wheaton died on March 11, 1848, in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Henry Wheaton

Henry Wheaton (November 27, 1785 - March 11, 1848), American lawyer and diplomat, was born at Providence, Rhode Island. He was the third reporter of decisions for the United States Supreme Court.

He graduated from Brown University in 1802, was admitted to the bar in 1805, and, after two years’ study abroad, practiced law at Providence (1807-1812) and at New York City (1812-1827). He was a justice of the Marine Court of the city of New York from 1815 to 1819. From 1816 to 1827 he edited reports of the Supreme Court. Aided by Justice Joseph Story, his reports were known for their comprehensive notes and summaries of the arguments presented by each side. However, the volumes were slow in appearing and costly. Wheaton's successor Richard Peters condensed his work, and Wheaton sued him, claiming infringement of his common-law copyright. The Supreme Court rejected his claim in Wheaton v. Peters, which was the Court's first copyright case.

In 1825, he aided in the revision of the laws of New York. His diplomatic career began in 1827, with an appointment to Denmark as chargé d'affaires, followed by that of minister to Prussia, 1837 to 1846.

During this period he had published a Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures (1815); twelve volumes of Supreme Court Reports, and a Digest; a great number of historical articles, and some collected works; Elements of International Law (1836), his most important work, of which a 6th edition with memoir was prepared by WB Lawrence and an eighth by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.; Histoire du Progrès du Droit des Gens en Europe, written in 1838 for a prize offered by the French Academy of Moral and Political Science, and translated in 1845 by William B. Lawrence as A History of the Law of Nations in Europe and America; and the Right of Visitation and Search (1842). The History took rank at once as one of the leading works on the subject of which it treats. Wheaton’s general theory is that international law consists of "those rules of conduct which reason deduces, as consonant to justice, from the nature of ‘the society existing among independent nations, with such definitions and modifications as may be established by general Consent."

In 1846 Wheaton was requested to resign by the new president, Polk, who needed his place for another appointment. The request provoked general condemnation; but Wheaton resigned and returned to the United States. He was called at once to the Harvard Law School as lecturer on international law; but he died at Dorchester, Massachusetts, on 11 March 1848.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Legal offices
Preceded by William Cranch	United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions 1816 – 1827	Succeeded by Richard Peters
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by none	United States Ambassador to Denmark 1827 – 1835	Succeeded by Jonathan F. Woodside
Preceded by John Quincy Adams(1)	United States Ambassador to Prussia 1835 – 1846	Succeeded by Andrew Jackson Donelson
Notes and references
1. There was over a thirty-four year period between Wheaton's and Adams' terms.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)