Story

Story, JOSEPH, an American jurist, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, September 18, 1779, graduated at Harvard in 1798, and was admitted to the bar in 1801. He was elected to the state legislature in 1805, and there became a leader of the Republican (Democratic) party. In 1808 he was returned to congress, and in 1811 he was appointed by Madison associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a place he filled with great credit for thirty-four years. In 1829 he became law professor at Harvard, and quickly raised the school to fame and prosperity. Of his many works the most valuable are his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833), on The Conflict of Laws (1834), and on Equity Jurisprudence (1835-36), which have passed through many editions. His legal writings and decisions are among those oftenest quoted in the higher courts of law. He died September 10, 1845. See the Life by his son (1851), who also prepared an enlarged edition of his Miscellaneous Writings (1851).—The son, WILLIAM WETMORE STORY, was born at Salem 12th February 1819, graduated at Harvard in 1838, studied law under his father, and was admitted to the bar. He even entered with spirit on his profession; but soon (1848) the bias towards poetry and art, which had been checked in the father after one reckless venture, drew him to Italy and made him a sculptor. His productions in this field are numerous and of high excellence; and his writings include Poems (1847-56-86), Roma di Roma (1862), the Tragedy of Nero (1875), Castle St Angelo (1877), He and She (1883), Fiammetta (1885), and Excursions in Art and Letters (1891). Story, who died at Vallombrosa, 7th October 1895, had received distinctions from the French and Italian governments, and from Oxford and Bologna.