| Book Review | Law and History Review, 27.1

Book Review

Albert M. Rosenblatt, ed., The Judges of the New York Court of Appeals: A Biographical History, New York: Fordham University Press, 2007. Pp. lxiii + 1046. $150.00 (ISBN 978-0-8232-2763-1).

This substantial volume presents the reader with exactly what the title says, plus much additional useful information. While the major portion is devoted to 106 biographies of judges of the N.Y. Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, the book also contains a summary history of the state's court system prior to 1846, when the Court of Appeals was established; brief biographies of 68 judges who served on the court ex officio; brief biographies of the chief clerks of the court; a bibliography of works relating to the court before 1847; a listing of justices of the Supreme Court of Judicature during the colonial period and early statehood, including the state's Chancellors; and a handsome selection of plates, many in color, illustrating documents, artifacts, buildings, and people of the court.

To furnish the labor of bringing this work to life, Albert Rosenblatt, judge on the Court from 1999–2006, enlisted the help of 85 contributing authors, many of them former law clerks or court attorneys. Seven contributors are relatives of their subjects. As editor and contributor, Rosenblatt has ensured that the biographies follow straightforward narratives: each of the 106 lives begins with a full-page portrait or photograph of the judge, followed by details of early life, education, career on the Court, and significant opinions. From the list of sources consulted for each biography, it is clear that the authors drilled down to unearth collections of letters, newspaper articles, and photographs from local historical societies and college archives. Most pieces list publications by the judge and include a section on progeny, tracing descendants of the judges to the present day. Many articles are enlivened with family photographs. One does note, however, there are few cases when judges' papers have survived. Papers of Irving Goodwin Vann can be found at the Onondaga Historical Association and those of Harold A. Stevens in the Schaumburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. More to be regretted is the case of Irving Lehman whose widow destroyed much of his correspondence and papers. The volume intends to be comprehensive, including biographies, or autobiographies in the case of two judges, of current members of the court. Only the most recent appointments, Eugene F. Piggott and Theodore Thomas Jones, Jr. were too late to be included. In his introduction Rosenblatt explains that this book is not meant to explore issues of decisional law, yet because many biographies link the judge with leading cases and decisions, it would have been useful to add a table of cases to the name and subject indexes.

Inquisitive readers will find many ways to use this reference work. Rosenblatt observes that several judges continued distinctive careers after leaving the Court. Three were appointed to the Supreme Court of the U.S. (Ward Hunt, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, Jr., and Benjamin Nathan Cardozo). Kenneth Keating was appointed Ambassador to India. Reading through these many lives, I focused instead on legal education, counting eight judges and one chief clerk who attended Litchfield Law School: Lewis Bartholomew Woodruff, Ward Hunt, William Johnson Bacon, Henry Pierrepont Edwards, George Gould, Augustus Cincinnatus Hand, Theron Rudd Strong, Josiah Sutherland, and Frederick A. Talmadge.

Keeping track of the names of judges from 1847–2007 is a daunting task. Rosenblatt can be credited for synthesizing the work of many contributors into a coherent and readable volume, but I must correct one confusion of names. Among the Commissioners of Appeals, appointed to deal with the court's backlog of cases in 1870, is listed Charles Chauncey Dwight (1830–1902). This gentleman, a state supreme court judge, served in ex officio capacity on the court in 1868, but was not a commissioner in 1874 and 1875. It was Theodore William Dwight (1822–1892) who was a member of the Commission on Appeals for those years. He is better known as founding dean of Columbia College School of Law.

The New York Court of Appeals takes its history very seriously. In 2002, the Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York was chartered. The Society produces a newsletter, maintains a website (www.courts.state.ny.us/history), and encourages the study of New York's legal history through educational programs, lectures, and publications. Two earlier books, The History of the New York Court of Appeals, 1847–1832 by Francis Bergan, (Court of Appeals 1964–1972), and The History of the New York Court of Appeals, 1932–2003 by Bernard Meyer (Court of Appeals 1979–1986), Burton Agata and Seth Agata, document the Court's changes in jurisdiction, constitutional reorganizations, and influential decisions. This biographical history puts a human face on the courthouse in Albany and provides a polished model for courts in other states to follow.

Whitney S. Bagnall

New York, N.Y.

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