Rhode Island Supreme Court
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Rhode Island Supreme Court
| Rhode Island Supreme Court | |
|---|---|
 State Seal of Rhode Island |
|
| Established | 1747 (colonial form) 1841, (current constitution) |
| Jurisdiction | Rhode Island  , United States  |
| Location | Rhode Island |
| Composition method | Appointement by governor legislative consent |
| Authorized by | Rhode Island Constitution |
| Decisions are appealed to | Supreme Court of the United States |
The Rhode Island Supreme Court, founded in 1747, is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Court consists of a chief justice and four associate justices. The current Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court are:
- Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell (appointed 2003, elevated to Chief 2009)
- Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg (appointed 1997)
- Justice Francis X. Flaherty (appointed 2003)
- Justice William P. Robinson III (appointed 2004)
- Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia (appointed 2010)
|
Contents
|
History
In 1747, the Rhode Island General Assembly authorized the creation of a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Gaol Delivery, consisting of one chief justice and four associates, all serving one year terms. The 1747 enactment replaced an earlier appeals court of the same name, which had been composed of the governor or deputy governor and at least six of the elected "assistants," which dated to 1729 under the same name and the composition dated back to the 1663 charter when it was known as the "General Court of Trials." This court had replaced an even earlier court formed under the Charter of 1644, a 1647 enactment of a code of laws, and a 1651 amendment creating appellate jurisdiction. [1]
Most of the judges during the 18th century were laymen, merchants or farmers and did not possess formal legal training, and therefore the court did not explicitly follow British common law. Parties, however, could still appeal to either the British monarch, English courts or the General Assembly until independence in 1776.[2]
In 1747 the Assembly appointed the first Chief Justice, Gideon Cornell, who was a judge, farmer, and merchant, and the second, Joshua Babcock, a Yale educated physician. Stephen Hopkins, later signatory of the Declaration of Independence, served as the third Chief Justice from 1747 to 1755.[3]
In 1798, the Assembly renamed the Superior Court "The Supreme Judicial Court," and in 1843, "The Supreme Court." The first officially recorded decision was Stoddard v. Martin (1828), a case involving gambling on an election. Since 1930 the Court has been located within the Licht Judicial Complex. Until 1994 the General Assembly sitting with both houses in "Grand Committee" chose the Supreme Court justices without the governor's consent. In 1994 after a wave of corruption scandals, citizens amended the Rhode Island Constitution to allow the governor to choose Supreme Court nominees from a list of candidates approved by a non-partisan nominating committee. Both houses of the General Assembly still must approve any nominees.
Notable Cases
- Trevett v. Weeden (1786), (involving the legitimacy of paper money) was one of the first cases where a state court held a legislative act unconstitutional, setting precedent for Marbury v. Madison.[4]
- Picard v. Barry Pontiac-Buick, Inc. (1995), tort case, often used as an example of battery in Tort textbooks
- Angel v. Murray (1974) first articulation of the UCC rule that a contract does not always need additional consideration for modification.
Prominent Rhode Island Supreme Court Justices
- Peleg Arnold, Delegate to the Continental Congress
- Joshua Babcock, physician, friend of Benjamin Franklin
- Charles S. Bradley, former partner at Tillinghast & Bradley
- William Ellery, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence
- Stephen Hopkins, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Rhode Island
- David Howell, Delegate to the Continental Congress, federalist leader, U.S. District Judge
- Christopher Lippitt, American revolution officer under George Washington
- Daniel Lyman, member of the secessionist Hartford Convention of 1814
- Samuel Ward, Delegate to the Continental Congress, Governor
- William West, 1787-1789, American Revolution general, Deputy Governor, anti-federalist rebellion leader
Chief Justices of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
A few noted Chief Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court include:
Images
-
interior of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, with a latin phrase above the bench meaning "not under man but under god and law."
-
Lady Liberty with the scales of justice in the Rhode Island Supreme Court
-
18th Century Newport Colony House, early meeting place of the Court
-
Stephen Hopkins, Chief Justice and first Brown University chancellor
-
Dr. Joshua Babcock
Footnotes
- ^ Gail I. Winson, "Researching the Laws of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: From Lively Experiment to Statehood" pg. 19-22 [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ Warren, Charles. History of the Harvard Law School and of Early Legal Conditions in America. New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1908. Three volumes, pg. 66[4]
External references
- Rhode Island Supreme Court
- Irving Berdine Richman, Rhode Island: A Study in Separatism, (Houghton, Mifflic & Co, Rhode Island: 1907), 191.
- Thomas Durfee, Gleanings from the Judicial History of Rhode Island, (Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1883), p. 164
- Amasa M. Eaton, The Development of the Judicial System in Rhode Island, Yale Law Journal14 (Jan. 1905), 148-170.
- John T. Farrell, The Early History of Rhode Island’s Court System, Rhode Island History 9 (July 1950), 65-71; 9 (Oct. 1950), 103-117; 10 (Jan. 1951), 14-25
- Link to article describing various RI Court primary sources
- Gail I. Winson, "Researching the Laws of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: From Lively Experiment1to Statehoodby," (Roger Williams School of Law).
- Rhode Island Supreme Court is at coordinates 41°49′31″N 71°24′25″W / 41.825404°N 71.406927°WCoordinates: 41°49′31″N 71°24′25″W / 41.825404°N 71.406927°W
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Related Videos:
Top
Rhode Island Supreme Court
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Read more