author
Stephen J. (Stephen Johnson) Field
1816–1899
A major figure in 19th-century American law, he spent more than three decades on the U.S. Supreme Court after making his name in Gold Rush-era California. His opinions helped shape debates over business power, individual rights, and the reach of government.
1 Audiobook
Personal reminiscences of early days in California, with other sketches : to which is added the story of his attempted assassination by a former associate on the supreme bench of the state
by Stephen J. (Stephen Johnson) Field, George C. (George Congdon) Gorham
About the author
Born in Haddam, Connecticut, in 1816, Stephen J. Field studied at Williams College, read law, and began his career in New York before heading to California during the Gold Rush. In the fast-changing legal world of the new state, he rose quickly and became the fifth Chief Justice of California.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served until 1897. His long tenure made him one of the best-known justices of his era, and his writings had a lasting influence on constitutional law, especially in cases involving economic regulation, property, and civil liberties.
Field was also a vivid personality with a dramatic public life, including a famously tense encounter with a former California colleague that later became part of legal lore. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1899, remembered as one of the most consequential and controversial jurists of the nineteenth century.