FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-99). A dis tinguished American judge, born in ITaddam, Conn., in 1816. He was the second son of the Rev. David D. Field, D.D., and a brother of the eminent jurist and law-refo•mer, David Dudley Field. A younger brother was Cyrus W. Field, to whose energy and enterprise the success of the first Atlantic cable was chiefly due. At the age of thirteen young Field made a voyage to the East in company with a brother-in-law, who was a missionary, and he spent years in Smyrna and Athens, studying Greek and other languages. Returning to this country, lie graduated at Wil liams College, in 1837. with the highest honors. He then studied law in the office of Ids brother in New York City, and, after his admission to the bar, became Ids brother's partner, and devoted himself energetically to the practice of law until 1848, when he went abroad and passed a year in Europe. On his return, in 1849. he joined the tide then setting toward California, and es tablished himself there, at a place where now stands the city of Marysville. He was elected the first alcalde of the place, holding the office until the organization of the judiciary under the Consti tution of the State. Under Mexican law an alcalde had a very limited jurisdiction. but after the American occupation the jurisdiction exer cised by him in the anomalous condition of so ciety in California at that time was practically unlimited. In 1350 he was elected to the Legis lature. and was placed on the Judiciary Commit tee. Ile drew up a bill defining the powers of the courts of justice and judicial officers of the State, which was passed, and most of its pro visions are still retained in the California code. He also secured the passage of a law giving effect to the usages and regulations adopted by the miners for the protection and working of the mines. The principles embodied in this law were adopted in other mining regions of the country, and finally by the Congress of the United States. In 1857 lie was elected Judge of the Supreme Court of California. and in 1859 lie succeeded
David S. Terry as Chief Justice. When Mr. Field came to the bench, the titles to lands in the State were unsettled. and •it was largely through the decisions in which he delivered the opinions of the court that the law of real property in Cali fornia was placed on a permanent basis. In 1863 he was appointed by President Lincoln an Asso ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a position which be held with increasing distinction until 1897. Here he played a conspic uous and important role, expressing himself with great force and freedom on all the great con stitutional questions which came before the court for consideration during his long term of ser vice and being intrusted by the court with the duty of preparing some of its most important opinions. His opinions in the celebrated test oath cases, in which the Supreme Court de clared the invalidity of the 'ironclad oath' im posed by act of Congress on all persons holding office under the Government of the United States. and his dissenting opinions in the legal-tender, slaughter-house, and income-tax cases were dis tinct contributions to American constitutional law, and have become justly celebrated. In 1869 be was appointed professor of law in the Univer sity of California; in 1873, as one of a commis sion to examine the codes of the State, he pre pared amendments which were adopted by the Legislature. He was a member of the famous electoral commission of 1876 which decided the Presidency in favor of Rutherford B. Hayes, and he voted with the minority in favor of Samuel J. Tilden. As a judge, Field was noted for his independence of judgment and the strength of his convictions, as well as for the sanity and reason ableness of his views. He was a learned lawyer. lent it was the breadth of his information and the range of his experience which contributed most to his judicial equipment. His service on the bench of the Supreme Court, the longest in the history of that august tribunal, was also one of the most useful in its history.