Ira Perley (November 9, 1799–February 26, 1874) was the chief justice of the

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Superior Court of Judicature The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...

1855–1859 and 1864–1869. Perley was born November 9, 1799, to Samuel and Phebe (Dresser) Perley. Perley represented both Hanover and Concord in the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...

. Perley was appointed by Governor Samuel Dinsmoor Jr. as an associate justice of the

in October 1852 and as the chief justice of the

on July 20, 1855 by Governor Ralph Metcalf. Perley resigned from the court on October 1, 1859, he was reappointed as Chief Justice on August 1, 1864, and he resigned again in September 1869. Perley was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1866. In 1873, Perley was president of the

New Hampshire Bar Association The New Hampshire Bar Association (NHBA) is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. History NHBA's lineage extends back to county bar chapters such as New Hampshire's Grafton County Bar Association which ...

. Perley died on February 26, 1874, in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

References

1799 births 1874 deaths People from Concord, New Hampshire Dartmouth College alumni Chief Justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives New Hampshire lawyers Members of the American Antiquarian Society 19th-century American legislators 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century New Hampshire politicians {{NewHampshire-state-judge-stub