Norman Leslie Bassett (June 23, 1869 – September 29, 1931), of

Augusta, Maine Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County. The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Maine, and third-least populous state capital in the Un ...

, was a justice of the

Maine Supreme Judicial Court The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. From 1820 until 1839, justices served lifetime a ...

from March 26, 1925, to September 9, 1930.

Early life, education, and career

Born in Winslow, Maine, Bassett attended the public schools, and graduated from the Coburn Classical Institute, in 1887. He received a BA from Colby College in 1891, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and where he remained until 1895 as a teacher of Greek and Latin.''Report of the Maine State Bar Association for 1930 and 1931'' (1931), Vol. 27, p. 81. He entered

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, where he was chosen as an editor of the ''

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...

'', receiving a Bachelor of Laws in 1898. Bassett then entered into a

law partnership A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

with his uncle, Leslie C. Cornish in

.Louis Clinton Hatch, ''Maine: A History, Volume 4'' (1919), p. 28. As an attorney, Bassett preferred performing transactional work to courtroom litigation, spending a great deal of his time preparing trust and estate documents. Bassett also served on the Board of Trustees of Colby College, and as a Director, and later President, of the Augusta Savings Bank. The Maine State Bar Association reported that " x years later Leslie C. Cornish was appointed as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, and Norman L. Bassett continued in practice until March 26, 1925, when he in turn was appointed as an Associate Justice".

Personal life

Basset had two brothers, J. Colby and George K., who also became lawyers, and a sister, Alice, who died young. Bassett was active in the Augusta YMCA, the Unitarian Church and the

Lithgow Public Library The Lithgow Public Library is the public library of Augusta, Maine. Established in 1896, and expanded in 1979 and 2016, it holds about 67,000 books. History The library is named for Llewellyn Lithgow, an Augusta merchant, who bequeathed $20,0 ...

. He married Lula Holden in Bennington, Vermont in 1903. He died in

, and was memorialized by the

Maine State Bar Association The Maine State Bar Association (MSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to t ...

the following month.

References

Justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Colby College alumni 1869 births 1931 deaths Harvard Law School alumni People from Winslow, Maine {{Maine-state-judge-stub