Thomas Durfee (February 6, 1826 – June 6, 1901)E.C. Bowler,
An Album of the Attorneys of Rhode Island
' (1904), p. 16. was an associate 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 May 1865 to January 1875, and chief justice from January 1875 to 1891.

Early life, education, and career

Born in

Tiverton, Rhode Island Tiverton is a New England town, town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,359 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Geography Tiverton is located on the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, across the Sa ...

, to

Job Durfee Job Durfee (September 20, 1790 – July 26, 1847) was a politician and jurist from Rhode Island. Born at Tiverton, he graduated from Brown University in 1813 and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Tiverton. He was a member of the ...

and Judith (Borden) Durfee, his father also served on the state supreme court. Durfee "inherited a judicial mind, and was brought up in an atmosphere adapted to prepare him for judicial service".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. 541-542. He was educated in the school of Rev. James Richardson, at

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 ...

, and received a degree 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 ...

, with honors, in 1846. After

reading law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

for two years in Providence, he was admitted to the bar in 1848, and in 1849 he was appointed reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court.

Judicial and political service

Durfee's judicial service began in 1854, when he was elected an assistant magistrate of the court of magistrates of the City of Providence, which was a local court of inferior jurisdiction. From 1855 to 1860 he was presiding magistrate of that court. During the early years of his professional life he wrote jointly with Joseph K. Angell a ''Treatise on the Law of Highways''. He was a representative 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 ...

in 1863, Speaker of the House in 1864, and State Senator in 1865. 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 ...

, he "was a frequent contributor to the papers, and his pen was powerful in support of the Union cause". In May 1865, he became an associate justice of the state supreme court, appointed from Providence, and in January 1875 he was elevated to chief justice, remaining in that office until 1891. Durfee served on the state supreme court for 26 years. Although entitled to retire upon full salary by 1890, he continued to perform his judicial duties. In 1890, the members of the Rhode Island bar arranged for his portrait to be placed in the law library of the state. In addition to his service on the court, he was a Trustee of Brown University from 1875 to 1888, and Chancellor of Brown University from 1879 to 1888, and thereafter a Fellow of Brown University until his death, also being conferred the degree of LL.D. by the institution. He also wrote extensively, his books including ''Thoughts on the Constitution of Rhode Island'', which was "a vigorous defence of the institutions of the State", and ''Gleanings from the Judicial History of Rhode Island'', presenting a more narrative style of writing. In 1872 he published a small volume of poems.

Personal life and death

On October 29, 1857, Durfee married Sarah Jane Slater, with whom he had one son, Samuel Slater Durfee. Durfee died in Providence from heart disease at the age of 75."Thomas Durfee", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (June 7, 1901), p. 9.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durfee, Thomas 1826 births 1901 deaths People from Tiverton, Rhode Island Brown University alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Rhode Island state senators Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Chancellors of Brown University