Northampton Law School (sometimes called the Howe and Mills Law School) was a school for legal education and was located in
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571.
Northampton is known as an acade ...
. Though open for only a few years in the 1820s, it produced several prominent alumni, including
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
.
History
In 1823 Judge Samuel Howe (1785 – 1828) opened a
law school
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
in Northampton which was modeled on his
alma mater, 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 ...
. Howe operated the school from his law offices with the assistance of his partner
Elijah H. Mills
Elijah Hunt Mills (December 1, 1776May 5, 1829) was an American politician from Massachusetts.
Early life
Mills was born in Chesterfield, Massachusetts. He was educated by private tutors and graduated from Williams College in 1797. Mills studi ...
. In addition, Howe also enlisted the aid of local
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
John H. Ashmun (the son of
United States Senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
Eli Porter Ashmun and brother of
Congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
George Ashmun
George Ashmun (December 25, 1804 – July 16, 1870) was a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.
Ashmun was born in Blandford, Massachusetts to Eli P. Ashmun and Lucy Hooker. He graduated from Yale in 1823 and wa ...
).
The school continued with Howe in the lead role until his death in 1828. When Mills decided to curtail his participation, Ashmun took on leadership of the school.
In 1829 Ashmun was appointed to a professorship at
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 ...
. As a result, he closed the Northampton Law School, with many of his students following him to Harvard.
Legacy
Among the prominent individuals who attended Northampton Law School during its short existence were:
*
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
from 1853 to 1857
*
George Stillman Hillard
George Stillman Hillard (September 22, 1808 – January 21, 1879) was an American lawyer and author. Besides developing his Boston legal practice (with Charles Sumner as a partner), he served in the Massachusetts legislature, edited several Bo ...
, United States Attorney for Massachusetts from 1866 to 1870 and husband of Howe's daughter Susan
*
William A. Walker, United States Representative from
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
*
Horatio Bridge
Horatio Bridge (April 8, 1806 – March 18, 1893) was an officer of the United States Navy who, as Chief of the Bureau of Provisions, served for many years as head of the Navy's supply organization. Appointed by his former college mate, President F ...
,
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
officer during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
*
Edward Dickinson
Edward Dickinson (January 1, 1803 – June 16, 1874) was an American politician from Massachusetts. He is also known as the father of the poet Emily Dickinson; their family home in Amherst, the Dickinson Homestead, is a museum dedicated to her.
...
, United States Representative from
and father of poet
Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...
*
Epaphroditus Ransom
Epaphroditus Ransom (March 24, 1798 – November 11, 1859) was an American politician who served as the seventh governor of Michigan and as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.
Early life in Massachusetts and Vermont
Ransom was born in Sh ...
,
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
from 1848 to 1850
Reed, George Irving
''Bench and Bar of Michigan,'' 1897, page 8
References
{{authority control
1823 establishments in Massachusetts
1829 disestablishments in Massachusetts
Education in Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Northampton, Massachusetts
Law schools in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Independent law schools in the United States
Defunct private universities and colleges in Massachusetts
Defunct law schools