PARSONS, THEOPHILDS,'LL.D., 1730-1813, b. Mass.; graduated at Harvard in 1769, and was admitted to the her in 1774. Ile began the practice of his profession at now Portland, Maine, which was laid waste by a British squadron in Oct., 1773; and Parsons, whose prospects for professional success at Falmouth were ruined by this disaster, withdrew min afterward to Byfield, his native town. There, for some years, he studied in the library of judge Edmund Trowbridge, then the first jurist in New England. and whose collection of law books was at that time perhaps the most complete in this country.. Parsons finally removed to Newburyport, wheve he soon acquired an extensive practice; and for some ten years he exerted a considerable influence in public affairs. In 1778 he was active in the discussion of the new constitution of Massachusetts. then recently framed by the legislature. Parsons was strongly opposed to the adoption of that instrument; he was a member of the "Essex Junto," which comprised a largo number of the citizens of Essex co. hostile to the new constitution; and the pamphlet vaned The Essex .Result, and which had a great influence in bringing about the defeat of the new constitution, is attributed to hint. In 1779 he sat in the convention which drew up the constitution which, with some changes, still subsists in Massachusetts. In 1788 ho
was a member of the state convention called to act upon the adoption of the federal constitution. He warmly supported the latter, and the so-called "Proposition" in favor of its adoption, though offered by John Hancock, was drawn up by Parsons. Besides serving from time to time in the legislature, this was his last appearance in public life. lie settled in 3oston in 1800, and continued his law practice, which had long included causes from all parts of New England. From 1800 till his death lie was chief justice of the state supreme court. His judicial opinions have not been as fully reported as oould be desired, but those prekrved in the early Massachusetts reports, and in his Commentaries on the Law of the United Stales, show great ability and learning, especially in the departments of real property and marine insurance. Ile was expeditious in the dispatch of business, and thoroughly conversant with the old common law system of pleadings. In polities he was a federalist in principle, but after his elevation to the bench, punctilious to take no share in them.