LIVINGSTON, EDWARD (1764-1836), American jurist and statesman, was born in Clermont, N.Y., on May 26, He graduated at Princeton in 1781, was admitted to the bar in 1785, and began to practise law in New York city, rapidly rising to distinction. He was a Republican representative in Congress, 1795-1801, where he was one of the leaders of the opposition to Jay's Treaty, taking the ground that Congress was not bound to appropriate money to carry out a treaty obligation. He opposed the alien and sedition laws, and introduced legislation on behalf of American seamen. In 180I Livingston was appointed U.S. district attorney for the State of New York and while retaining that office was in August of the same year elected mayor of New York city. When, in 1803, the city was overtaken by an epidemic of yellow fever, Livingston helped to prevent the spread of the disease and relieve distress, and was himself attacked by the fever.
On his recovery he found himself indebted to the Government for public funds which had been lost through the dishonesty of a confidential clerk, and for which he was responsible as district attorney. He at once surrendered all his property, resigned his two offices in 1803, and removed early in 1804 to Louisiana. He soon acquired a large law practice in New Orleans, and in 1826 repaid the Government in full, including the interest.
Almost immediately upon his arrival in Louisiana, he was appointed by the legislature to prepare a provisional code of judicial procedure, which (in the form of an act passed in April 1805) was continued in force from 1805-25. In 1807 Livingston became involved in litigation over his claim to the Batture, Ste. Marie land, ending in a heated controversy with President Jeffer son who upheld the public claim. Livingston's final victory in the courts brought him little financial profit because of the heavy expenses of the litigation. During the war with England from 1812-15 Livingston was active in rousing the mixed population of New Orleans to resistance, and acted as adviser and volunteer aide-de-camp to Gen. Jackson. In 1821, by appointment of the legislature, of which he had become a member the preceding year, Livingston began the preparation of a new code of criminal law and procedure, afterwards known in Europe and America as the "Livingston Code." Completed in 1824, it was accidentally
burned, and reproduced in 1826, though not printed until 1833. It was never adopted by the State. It was at once reprinted in England, France and Germany, and studied all over the world, attaining wide influence. In referring to this code, Sir Henry Maine spoke of Livingston as "the first legal genius of modern times" (Cambridge Essays, 1856, p. 17). His code of reform and prison discipline was adopted by Guatemala. In 1823 he was appointed with Moreau Lislet to revise the civil code of Louisiana, which was substantially ratified.
Livingston was again a representative in Congress during 1823 29, a senator in 1829-31, and for two years (1831-33) Secretary of State under President Jackson. In this last position he was one of the most trusted advisers of the President, for whom he pre pared a number of State papers, the most important being the famous anti-nullification proclamation of Dec. 1832. From 1833 to 1835 Livingston was minister plenipotentiary to France, charged with procuring the fulfilment by the French Government of the treaty negotiated in 1831. Livingston's negotiations were well conducted, but the French Chamber of Deputies refused to pay the first instalment of the adjudicated claims which, according to the treaty, was due in 1833. Relations between the two Gov ernments became strained, and Livingston was finally instructed to close the legation and return to America. He died May 23, 1836 at Montgomery place, Dutchess county, New York. His works include : Reports of the Plan of tile Penal Code (1822) ; System of Penal Law for the State of Louisiana (1826) ; System of Penal Law for the United States (1828) ; Complete Works on Criminal Jurisprudence (1873).
See C. H. Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston (1864) ; Louise Living ston Hunt, Memoir of Mrs. Edward Livingston (i886) ; Merrill Moore's "Edward Livingston" in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly (vol. 3, Jan.-Oct. 192o).