James Kent

James Kent 1763-1847, American jurist, b. near Brewster, N.Y. He was admitted to the bar in 1785 and began practice in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Active in the Federalist party, he served several terms in the New York legislature. In 1793, Kent moved to New York City, where his reputation for learning established him as first professor of law at Columbia College. His lectures (1794-98) were not especially well received, and he welcomed the appointment in 1798 as a judge of the state supreme court. He was made chief judge in 1804, and from 1814 until his statutory retirement in 1823 he presided over the state court of chancery. Kent's written opinions as chancellor were instrumental in reviving equity , which had largely lapsed in the United States after the American Revolution. He refashioned many of the doctrines in that area by combining concepts from English chancery jurisprudence with the principles of Roman law. After his retirement he again (1824-26) was professor of law at Columbia, but found the delivery of lectures tedious and soon resigned. He vastly expanded the material of his courses to prepare his Commentaries on American Law (4 vol., 1826-30), a systematic treatment of international law, American constitutional law, the sources of state law, and the law of personal rights and of property. It was enthusiastically received by the legal profession and in Kent's lifetime went through six editions.

Bibliography: See Memoirs and Letters of James Kent by his great-grandson, William Kent (1898, repr. 1970); study by J. T. Horton (1939, repr. 1969).

Kent, James (1763–1847), known as “the American Blackstone,” was a New York jurist, legal commentator, and professor of law at Columbia (1794–97, 1824–26). As chief justice of the state supreme court (1804–14) and chancellor of the New York Court of Chancery (1814–23), he began the practice of delivering his opinions in writing, and some of them have been widely influential in later cases. He modified English chancery practice to conform to American constitutions, and became the virtual creator of equity jurisdiction in the U.S. His reputation depends both upon his judicial decisions and upon his Commentaries on American Law (4 vols., 1826–30), whose six parts deal respectively with (1) international law, (2) the Constitution and government of the U.S. from a Federalist point of view, (3) state laws, (4) rights of persons, (5) personal property, and (6) real property.