STORY, JOSEPH (1779-1845), American jurist, was born at Marblehead (Mass.), on Sept. 18, 1779. He graduated from Harvard in 1798, and was admitted to the bar at Salem (Mass.), in 18o1, a Democrat. In Nov. 1811, at the age of 32, he became, by President Madison's appointment, an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. This position he retained until his death. Soon after Story's appointment, the Supreme Court began to bring out into plain view the powers which the Constitution had given it over State courts and State legislation.
The leading place in this work belongs to Chief Justice John Marshall, but Story has a very large share in that remarkable series of decisions and opinions, from 1812 until 1832, by which the work was accomplished. In addition to this he built up the department of admiralty law in the U.S. courts; he devoted much attention to equity jurisprudence, and rendered invaluable serv ices to the department of patent law. In 1819 he attracted much attention by his vigorous charges to grand juries, denouncing the slave trade, and in 182o he was a prominent member of the Massachusetts Convention called to revise the State Constitution.
In 1829 he became the first Dane professor of law at Harvard university, and continued until his death to hold this position. He died at Cambridge (Mass.), on Sept. 1o, 1845.
Among his publications are: Commentaries on the Law of Bailments (1832) ; Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833), a work of profound learning which is still the standard treatise on the subject; Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws (1834), by many regarded as his ablest work; Commentaries on Equity Juris prudence (1835-36) ; Equity Pleadings (1838) ; Law of Agency (1830 ; Law of Partnership (1841) ; Law of Bills of Exchange (1843) and Law of Promissory Notes (1845).
See The Life and Letters of Joseph Story (Boston and London, 1851), by his son, W. W. Story.