George A. Brayton (1803 – April 21, 1880) was a justice of the

Rhode Island Supreme Court The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial No ...

from 1843 to 1874, serving as chief justice from 1868 to 1874. Born in

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, the third largest city in the state with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is located approximately south of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, sout ...

, Brayton graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1824, and studied law in the office of

Albert C. Greene Albert Collins Greene (April 15, 1792January 8, 1863) was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. He served as a United States senator and Attorney General of Rhode Island. Early life Greene was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Isl ...

, afterwards Attorney-General of the State and United States Senator, and at the

Litchfield Law School The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut, was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietary school was unaffiliated with any college or university. (Whi ...

.Stephen O. Edwards, "The Supreme Court of Rhode Island", in

Horace Williams Fuller Horace Williams Fuller (June 15, 1844 – October 26, 1901) was an American lawyer and editor who served as the first editor of ''The Green Bag'', a late-19th- and early-20th century legal news and humor magazine. Life and career Born in Aug ...

, et al., eds., ''The Green Bag'', Vol. 2. (1890), p. 539-540. In 1832, and again in 1843, Brayton served in the

Rhode Island General Assembly The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower house, lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 re ...

. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1842. In June 1843 Brayton was elected an associate justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and on March 13, 1868, after nearly twenty-five years of service, became chief justice. Brayton resigned on May 28, 1874, after the longest term of judicial service in the history of the State.
Manual - the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
' (1891), p. 208-13. Brayton lived for a time at the historic

Gen. James Mitchell Varnum House The General James Mitchell Varnum House is an historic house at 57 Peirce Street in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. The -story wood-frame house was built in 1773 for James Mitchell Varnum, who later served as a general in the Continental Army du ...

East Greenwich, Rhode Island East Greenwich is a town and the county seat of Kent County, Rhode Island. The population was 14,312 at the 2020 census. East Greenwich is the wealthiest municipality within the state of Rhode Island. It is part of the Providence metropolitan st ...

References

Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court 1803 births 1880 deaths Brown University alumni Litchfield Law School alumni Members of the Rhode Island General Assembly Chief Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges {{RhodeIsland-state-judge-stub