LIVINGSTON, EDWARD (17(14-1836) . An American jurist and statesman, horn Slay 26, 1764, at Clermont, Columbia County, X. Y. He graduated in 1781 at Princeton, studied law at Albany and Now York. was admitted to the bar in 1785, and rose rapidly to high rank in his profession. From 1795 to 1801 he was a member of Congress. \diere he supported the measures of the Republiean Party, and attracted attention, particularly by speeches against the Alien and Sedition laws. on the resolution calling for the correspondence relative to the jay Treaty, and on the eonduet of President .John Adams in the ease of Jonathan Robbins. In 1801 he was ap pointed United States Attorney for the district of New York, and during the same year was elected Mayor of the city of New York. Through the dishonesty of a clerk in the District Attorney's office, Livingston's affairs soon became seriously embarrassed, with the result that he was found to be considerably behind in Ids accounts. Upon discovering the con duct of his agent Livingston voluntarily eon fessed judgment for $100,000, resigned his office, and prepared to leave New York. The exact amount of the shortage was something over $43, 000. It was not until 1826 that a final set tlement, with the United States was made. The amount of the shortage with the accrued interest had then reached $100,000, every dollar of which Livingston paid. Il is resolution to abandon the State was unshaken, and he could not be persuaded to reconsider his decision. In Decem ber, 1803, he sailed for New Orleans, and Fly in 1804 became a member of the bar there. Louisiana had just been acquired by the United States, eltielly through the diplomacy of his hrother, Hobert R. Livingston, and a great future seemed to await men of Livingston's talents in that country. The legal system of Louisiana was a strange mixture of Spanish and French law, having its foundation in the Corpus Juris Cirilis of the It0111:111S. In spite of this dif ficulty he soon had a lucrative practice. and, by accepting laud for his fees, acquired the basis of a respectable fortune. During the second war with Great Britain he served for a time as secretary and confidential adviser to General Jackson, In 1820 he was elected to the Lower House of the Louisiana Legislature, and with two other members was commissioned to prepare a civil code for the State. Their draft, largely
the work of Livingston, was adopted, in large part, by the Legislature in 1825. In the year 1821 he was selected by joint ballot of the Legis lature to revise the entire system of criminal law of the State. For this task he possessed pre eminent qualifications, having studied with great care the legal systems of Rome, France, Spain, and Great Britain. After about three years of labor he had finished a complete system of penal law-, divided into codes, books, chapters, sections, and articles. Unfortunately. just as the final draft of the code was completed, it aceidentally caught fire and was completely destroyed. Un daunted by this misfortune, he again began the work, and within two years it was again com pleted. The code was marked by liberal and enlightened principles, and contained provisions looking toward a more humane penal system. The work was styled .1 System of Penal Low, and WIIS divided into a Code of Crimes and Punishments; a Code of Proeedure; a Code of Evidence; and a Code of Reform and Prison Dis cipline, besides a Book of Definition. The system which Livingston prepared was never directly adopted as a whole by the State. but its puldiea tion gave him fame throughout America and Europe, and many of its principles were incor porated in the legal systems of other States of America, and even in those of certain European countries, while the Government of Guatemala adopted his Code of Reform and Prison Discipline without change. In 1822, while still engaged in the revision of the Louisiana legal system, Liv ingston was elected to Congress. was twice reelected, serving until 1829, when he was trans ferred to the United States Senate, where he took high rank. In 1831 l'resident Jackson appointed him Secretary of State, and in 1833 sent him as Minister Plenipotentiary to France to demand the payment by the French Government of an in demnity of a million sterling on account of depredations upon American conniterce. He was entirely sueeessful in this mission, and returned to the United States in 1835, settling on his estate. 'Montgomery Place,' on the 'Hudson, where he died the following year. His works on Crim inal Jurispriahnce, in two volumes, were pub lished in New York in 1873. Consult Ihmt, Life of Edward Livingston (New York, 1864),