William Kilty (1757 – October 10, 1821) was a Revolutionary War veteran and Maryland lawyer who became the Chief United States circuit judge of the

United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia The United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia (in case citations, C.C.D.C.) was a United States federal court which existed from 1801 to 1863. The court was created by the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801. History The D.C. ci ...

(1801-1806) and then the 3rd

Chancellor of Maryland The Chancellor of Maryland was the highest judicial office in the state of Maryland from before the American Revolution until the state's High Court of Chancery ceased to exist, on June 4, 1854. The High Court of Chancery of Maryland was organized ...

(1806-1821). During his service in the latter office, he wrote an influential summary of the British Statutes still in force in Maryland, and served on a committee established to address a British blockade of American vessels.

Education and military career

Born in 1757, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Kilty emigrated to the

Maryland colony The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

with at least his Scottish-born father John Kilty (1730-1785) and brother John Kilty Jr. (1751-1811). William Kilty studied medicine under Edward Johnson of

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

.William J. Marbury,
The High Court of Chancery and the Chancellors of Maryland
, Report of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Maryland State Bar Association (1905), p. 137-155. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Kilty served in the

5th Maryland Regiment The 5th Maryland Regiment is a designation which has been held by several units over the years, not all of which necessarily share the same lineage and honors. Although the first unit to carry the "5th Maryland" designation was organized in 1776 ...

as a Surgeon's Mate from April 1778 to April 1780, when he was promoted to the regimental Surgeon. His elder brother John Kilty was Captain of Dragoons in the Maryland Line of the Continental Army (and later Brigadier General of the Maryland militia). Taken prisoner at the

Battle of Camden The Battle of Camden (August 16, 1780), also known as the Battle of Camden Court House, was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. On August 16, 1780, British forces under Lieutenant General ...

, Kilty returned to Annapolis in the spring of 1781. He served until 1783 and was admitted as an original member of The

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

in the state of Maryland when it was established near the end of that year. Kilty sailed to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where he received a degree from the

College of St. Omer A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering v ...

, then returned to Maryland and

read 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 ...

Legal career

After admission to the Maryland

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, Kilty had a private legal practice. He also wrote several essays condemning the anarchic state of affairs under the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...

, which governed until the ratification of the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

in 1787.John Thomas Scharf, ''History of Maryland from the Earliest Period to the Present Day: 1765-1812'' (1879). He was appointed compiler of the laws of Maryland from 1798 to 1800. He published the two volumes known as "Kilty's Laws", then moved to the new federal city (established in 1790), and settled in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1800.

Federal judicial service

Shortly after taking office, President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

on March 23, 1801 offered Kilty a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President is empowered to nominate, and with the advi ...

to the new Chief Judge seat on the

authorized by the controversial

Judiciary Act of 1801 The Midnight Judges Act (also known as the Judiciary Act of 1801; , and officially An act to provide for the more convenient organization of the Courts of the United States) represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during ...

, 2 Stat. 103. President Jefferson formally nominated Chief Judge Kilty to the same seat on January 6, 1802. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed the appointment on January 26, 1802, and Kilty received his commission the same day. On January 27, 1806, Kilty resigned to become Chancellor of Maryland as discussed below.

Chancellor of Maryland

When Chancellor

Alexander Contee Hanson Alexander Contee Hanson (February 27, 1786April 23, 1819) was an American lawyer, publisher, and statesman. He represented the third district of Maryland in the U.S. House, and the state of Maryland in the U.S. Senate. Early life Alexander Conte ...

died in office, the

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

Robert Bowie Robert Bowie (March 1750 – January 8, 1818) served as the 11th Governor of the state of Maryland in the United States, from 1803 to 1806, and from 1811 to 1812. He was the third child born to Captain William Bowie and Margaret Sprigg, at M ...

had first offered the position as

Gabriel Duvall Gabriel Duvall (December 6, 1752 – March 6, 1844) was an American politician and jurist. Duvall was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1811 to 1835, during the Marshall Court. Previously, Duvall was the Co ...

(then serving as the federal

Comptroller of the Treasury The Comptroller of the Treasury was an official of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1789 to 1817. According to section III of the Act of Congress establishing the Treasury Department, it is the comptroller's duty to :''superintend ...

), who declined, and then to Robert Smith (the acting

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

), who also declined. Gov. Bowie then appointed Kilty, and he accepted, taking his seat on January 26, 1806. His opinions as Chancellor were noted to be "generally very concise, not laden with citations of authorities like Bland's, but showing close familiarity with English equity jurisprudence". His most important work as Chancellor was his 1811 report on the British Statutes in force in Maryland. The work received high commendation from the Court of Appeals and the profession generally, but the Assembly took no action on his report other than ordering the printing of one thousand copies. In ''Dashiell vs. Attorney-General'', 5 H. & J., 403, the court said that "the book was compiled, printed and distributed under the sanction of the State for the use of its officers and is a safe guide in exploring an otherwise very dubious path". Kilty also undertook other public activities during his Chancellorship. In 1807, he was appointed to a committee of prominent citizens to address a British blockade of American vessels; and in January 1808 he assisted in drafting a resolution further condemning British actions against U.S. shipping. Kilty held that office until his death on October 10, 1821, in Annapolis. A memorial was held on October 11, 1821 in the Baltimore County Court, and the ''National Intelligencer'' for October 17, 1821, reported an account of the action of the Bar of the District of Columbia on the death of Kilty.

Personal life

Kilty married Elizabeth Middleton (1757-1807) In 1790, Kilty lived with her and a slave in Prince George's County, Maryland. In the 1810 federal census, Chancellor Kilty's Annapolis household included three slaves. The following year his brother died, and that widow petitioned to receive his Revolutionary War pension.

Death and legacy

Kilty died in Annapolis, Maryland on October 10, 1821 and, like his brother Capt. John Kilty, is buried at historic St. Anne's Church there.

John Johnson Sr. John Johnson Sr. (September 12, 1770 – July 30, 1824) was a Maryland attorney and judge, and the fourth Chancellor of Maryland, from 1821 to 1824.William J. Marbury,The High Court of Chancery and the Chancellors of Maryland, Report of the Tenth ...

succeeded him as Chancellor. His former house at 133 Charles Street in Annapolis was photographed in the Historic American Buildings Survey.

References

Sources

* * William J. Marbury,
The High Court of Chancery and the Chancellors of Maryland
, Report of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Maryland State Bar Association, (1905), p. 137-155.