The Chief Justice John Marshall Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin remembers the first day of the first U. S. Supreme Court on February 1, 1790.
The Michigan Law Journal of May 1896 provided insights into the nomination and character of the first chief justice, discussions about the dress and decorum of the court, and described the initial days of the new Supreme Court.
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John Jay and Other Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
By L. B. Proctor of the New York Bar.
To the bar of the State of New York, whose history is the pride of all its members, the nation is indebted for the first chief-justice of its Supreme Court and for a succession of eminent and learned associate judges, from its organization down to the present time.
The most important and delicate duty that devolved on Washington, after the organization of the Federal Supreme Court, was the appointment of a chief-justice. After a careful consideration of the eminent lawyers and jurists of the time, John Jay, of New York, was selected for that exalted position.
“His earliest studies, the judicial character of his mind, his familiarity with the principles underlying American institutions, combined with the experience acquired while presiding over the highest tribunal of the Empire State, peculiarly prepared him to discharge the duties of the chief-justice of the nation.”
Jay was appointed chief-justice of the New York Supreme Court May 8, 1777, and was commissioned by the Council of Appointment Oct. 17, 1777. Robert R. Livingston , Jay’s early law partner, was commissioned to preside over the Court of Chancery on the same day.
Jay occupied the office of chief-justice of the Supreme Court until December, 1779, when he resigned, having been appointed one of the five delegates from this state to the Congress of the Confederation, and Richard Morris succeeded him.
The act of Congress establishing the Federal Supreme Court was signed in the autumn of 1789, and Jay was the same day nominated its chief-justice, with his associates, Cushing, Wilson, Blair, Iredel and Thomas Johnson.
In transmitting to him his commission, Washington, in a delightful letter, sustaining the allegation of a great English writer that “Letters have souls,” said: “It gives me singular pleasure to address you as the head of that great department which must be considered the keystone of our political fabric.”
The single name of intellect, by which Plato so appropriately denominated Aristotle, may, with propriety, be applied to John Jay, for he was intellect in strongest, purest sense, with full mastery of all its powers.
As Webster said: “When the spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched nothing less spotless than itself.”
Before taking his seat on the bench of the Federal Court a curious and animated discussion arose concerning the habiliments of its judges while on the bench.
By some the scholarly gown was preferred; others advocated the classic toga; others desired the more sacred stole.
But it was the question of the English judicial wig, which is associated with Blackstone, Bacon, Coke, Mansfield, Buller and other English judges, over which the most exciting controversy arose.
To the use of this appendage Jay most emphatically objected. The subject was discussed dehors judicial circles.
Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury, who favored the methods, costumes and fashions of England, strongly sustained, not only the judicial wig, but the toga; while Jefferson, “whose simple manners and opposition to the aristocratic tendencies of the federal leader exhibited themselves in the combing of his hair out of the fashionable pigtail, discarding hair powder, wearing pantaloons instead of breeches, fastening his shoes with strings instead of elaborate buckles,” indulged in denunciations of all unnecessary apparel for the judges.
He said to Hamilton one day, when the subject was under discussion: “I have been reading your letter to Jay concerning the apparel of the judges of the Supreme Court.”
“Well, what do you think of it?”
“That I have no patience with the prevailing custom of imitating everything English in our democratic institutions, particularly in the organization of our courts. If we must have peculiar garbs for the judges, I think the gown is the most appropriate. But, for heaven’s sake, discard the monstrous wig, which makes the English judges look like rats peeping through bunches of oakum,” was the reply.
When Aaron Burr was asked his opinion in regard to the attire of the judges, he said: “It has long been the custom in all civilized nations to place the outer garb of Roman Senators, Grecian orators and jurists on modern judges, eminent scholars and divines. But I have never seen or read of a flowing English wig on a statue of an illustrious Roman or Grecian orator or statesman. I am in favor of giving our judges the judicial robes of Mansfield, copied from those of Cicero. But let us forego the great inverted woolsack, termed a wig, which disguised the majestic head of the great English jurist.”
The matter was finally compromised by adopting the gown, or official robe of the high judicial officers of England, in which Jay is made to appear in his portrait that embellishes the rooms of the New York State Bar Association and the Court of Appeals of the State at Albany.
Federal Hall in the city of New York had the honor of being the place where John Jay held his first court.
On February 1, 1790, in that old, historic hall, he and two of his associate-judges met.
As none of the other associate-judges appeared, there was no quorum and they adjourned until the next day, February 2, and on that day the court, after the reading of letters patent, commissioning the several judges, appointed a crier and other court officers.
The next day the clerk took his oath, seals of the Supreme Court were selected, and the first business transacted was the entering of orders for the admission of attorneys and counselors.
Many were admitted to practice, among whom were Egbert Benson, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Fisher Ames, Robert Morris and Edward Livingston.
At a term of the Federal Court, held in the City of New York, April 4, 1790, Jay delivered his first charge as a federal judge to the grand jury. At this time he was forty-four years of age.
In person he was nearly six feet in height, sparely, but elegantly formed. His eyes were blue, penetrating and expressive; his nose of the Roman form. His mouth, which, when closed, assumed a firm and rather severe expression, was softened by the eloquence that fell from it.
His hair, which he combed over his forehead, was tied behind in the queue, fashionable at that time, and lightly powdered.
His dress was black and faultless. His manner was dignified, yet gentle and unassuming.
Though not a voluble conversationalist, he was interesting and instructive, and always pleasing because he was an admirable listener.
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The Chief Justice John Marshall Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin shows with a Gilbert Stuart portrait of the first Chief Justice John Jay.
