Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/220

184 i84 HARVARD LAW REVIEW Bom January g, 1781, in what is now called Barnstable, his father, Reverend Oakes Shaw, fitted him for Harvard, from which he graduated in 1800. He taught school during winter vacations and wrote for, and became an Assistant Editor of, the Boston Gazette. In 1801, he was entered as a student of law in the office of David Everett in Boston, and, after the three years of study, without which no student could become a member of the bar, he was admitted in 1804 in the Court of Common Pleas. Two years of practice were then re- quired before being allowed to act as an attorney before the Supreme Judicial Court, and two years' additional experience as an attorney was necessary to become a counsellor who could try cases in the highest court. He opened an oflSce at first in Amherst, N. H., for two years. Then he returned to Massa- chusetts and started as a lawyer in Plymouth, but in December, 1806, he re- moved to Boston and shared the office of Thomas O. Selfridge, shortly before Selfridge's famous quarrel with Charles Austin, which resulted in Austin's death. In 1818, being then thirty-seven years old, he married Elizabeth Knapp; but she died in 1822, leaving him a son and a daughter. In 1827, he married Miss Hope Savage of Barnstable, and in 183 1 he established his home at No. 49 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston. There he lived during the rest of his Ufe. His son, Samuel, who never was married, continued there and kept his father's home quite unchanged, until he himself died in 19 15. Lemuel Shaw devoted himself closely to his profession until 1830. His practice was the ordinary experience of a young attorney, and became ex- tensive. He was the active manager in the impeachment, in 182 1, of Probate judge Prescott, who was finally convicted and removed from his office. While he sat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and also in the Senate for brief periods, he never inclined to political life. His practice at the bar was largely in commercial law, but he never became prominent as an advocate. He was the author of the Boston City Charter and a member of the Constitu- tional Convention of 1820. The original draft of the Boston Charter in his own handwriting is still preserved in the State archives. This charter, which was an enduring piece of constructive legislation, continued in force as orig- inally fashioned until 19 13, when the present charter of the city was adopted. It is a noteworthy standard among the forms of Community-Government, and probably was the most important piece of professional work which Shaw accompUshed while at the bar. His office, at last, became very popular and desirable as a place for students. In 1820, when Sidney Bartlett graduated at Harvard, he became a student in Shaw's office, and very soon became Shaw's partner. It is believed that this ten years of close connection with Mr. Bartlett contributed much to Shaw's financial success. Shaw never tried many cases before juries. It is also true that Mr. Bartlett, leader of the bar as he was for so many years, and continuing actively in the courts until he was over ninety years of age, never acquired the reputation of a great advocate; but still, the learned author of Shaw's biography, Judge Chase, of the Superior Court, is not quite accurate in supposing that Mr. Bartlett seldom tried many cases at nisi prius. He certainly was frequently before juries in his earlier years; and, as late as 1879, in the case of Clark v. Wilson (103 Mass. 509), Mr. Bartlett led in its trial to the jury before Chief Justice Brigham in the Superior Court. He was senior counsel throughout the trial, although he insisted that his junior should make both the opening and the closing arguments to the jury. But this was undoubtedly the last jury trial in which Mr. Bartlett ever took part. Lemuel Shaw was, through his entire life, devoted to the law, and had no taste for politics or legislation. He refused to run for Congress, and, although he was asked to accept the office of Judge of Probate in 18 19, he did not comply with the request. During his later professional life, Shaw was certainly em- ployed in many large cases. He was consulted frequently by the City of Bos-