Hiram Gray (July 10, 1801 in Salem,

Washington County, New York Washington County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,302. The county seat is Fort Edward. The county was named for U.S. President George Washington. Washington County is part of the Glen ...

– May 6, 1890 in Elmira, Chemung County, New York) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from New York who served one term in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1837 to 1839. He was also a judge at both the federal and state levels.

Education

He graduated from

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

in 1821. Then he studied law, was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1823, and commenced practice in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...

US Congress

Gray was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the 25th United States Congress, and served from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1839.

New York state judiciary

He was Judge of the Sixth Judicial District from 1846 to 1847. He was a justice of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

from 1847 to 1859, and was

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

a judge of the New York Court of Appeals in 1851 and 1859. He was a Commissioner of Appeals from 1870 to 1875. Gray wrote the majority opinion in the case of ''Lawrence v. Fox'', 1859, giving contractual rights to the

third-party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a Ve ...

Lawrence in a debt collection case.

Death

Gray was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira.

References

External sources

''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 351 and 356; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)

Court of Appeals judges {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Hiram 1801 births 1890 deaths New York Supreme Court Justices Judges of the New York Court of Appeals People from Salem, New York Politicians from Elmira, New York Union College (New York) alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges