Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence, as Administered in England and America
by Joseph Story (1779-1845)
Joseph Story was a most prolific and distinguished author, scholar and jurist. A graduate of Harvard, he was admitted to the bar in 1801. In 1811, at the age of 32, the youngest justice ever chosen, Joseph Story was nominated by President James Madison to be an associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He served in that position until his death in 1845. Justice Story was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820 and was Dane Professor of Law at Harvard from 1829 until his death. He wrote numerous treatises on the law including titles on agency, bailments, bills of exchange, conflict of laws, constitutional interpretation, as well as the title cited by Lincoln, Story’s Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence. One 19th century scholar wrote that Story’s Equity “is based upon the immutable principles of justice and morality, and is practical religion applied to the every day affairs of life.” Although Story died in 1845 his work on equity was so much in demand by the legal profession that fourteen editions and many more printings were brought out by the publisher, Little Brown.
Read Story’s Equity Jurisprudence.