Richard Peters, Jr. (August 17, 1780 – May 2, 1848) was an American attorney and the fourth

reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States The reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States is the official charged with editing and publishing the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, both when announced and when they are published in permanent bound vol ...

, serving from 1828 to 1843.

Early life

Richard Peters, Jr. was born in

Belmont, Pennsylvania Belmont is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,784 at the 2010 census. Geography Belmont is located in southwestern Cambria County at (40.285014, -78 ...

, the son of Richard Peters, an attorney later elected as Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania. Peters, Jr. studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1800.

Career

In 1816, Peters was among a group of men led by Condy Raguet who founded the

Philadelphia Savings Fund Society The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS), originally called the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, was a savings bank headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. PSFS was founded in December 1816, the first savings bank to organ ...

. In the early 20th century, it was the largest savings bank in the United States. Peters served as the editor of: ''Chitty on Bills'', '' Joseph Chitty on Criminal Law'' (1819),

Bushrod Washington Bushrod Washington (June 5, 1762 – November 26, 1829) was an American attorney and politician who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1798 to 1829. On the Supreme Court, he was a staunch ally of Ch ...

's ''Circuit Court Reports, Third Circuit'' (four volumes, 1803–27), and ''

United States Statutes at Large The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. Each act and resolutio ...

''."Richard Peters, Jr. (1780-1848), ''

New International Encyclopedia ''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926. History ''The New Intern ...

'' He was appointed as the solicitor of

Philadelphia County Philadelphia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the most populous county in Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Philadelphia County had a population of 1,603,797. The county is the second smallest county in Pennsyl ...

, serving from 1822 to 1825.

Supreme Court

In 1828, Peters was appointed as Reporter of Decisions for the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in Washington, DC. He condensed the reports of his three predecessors to have a more concise version for legal reviews. He eliminated the arguments of counsel, annotations, and other material, thereby reducing twenty-four volumes into six. His immediate predecessor

Henry Wheaton Henry Wheaton (November 27, 1785 – March 11, 1848) was a United States lawyer, jurist and diplomat. He was the third Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, reporter of decisions for the United States Supreme Court, the ...

sued. The Supreme Court rejected Wheaton's claim to a

common law copyright Common law copyright is the legal doctrine that grants copyright protection based on common law of various jurisdictions, rather than through protection of statutory law. In part, it is based on the contention that copyright is a natural right an ...

in his own reports in the first landmark case in American

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

law, ''

Wheaton v. Peters ''Wheaton v. Peters'', 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591 (1834), was the first United States Supreme Court ruling on copyright. The case upheld the power of Congress to make a grant of copyright protection subject to conditions and rejected the doctrine of a ...

''. The Court dismissed Peters in 1843 because of the questionable "accuracy and fidelity" of his reports; in addition, he had offended several of the justices.Gerald T. Dunne, Early Court Reporters, Yearbook 1976, Supreme Court Historical Society, p. 66

Personal life

Peters was married to Abigail Willing (1777–1841), daughter of prominent Philadelphian

Thomas Willing Thomas Willing (December 19, 1731 – January 19, 1821) was an American merchant, politician and slave trader who served as mayor of Philadelphia and was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress. He also served as the first presi ...

(1731–1821). Peters died in Belmont, Pennsylvania in 1848.

Published works

*''Reports of the United States Circuit Court, 1803-18'' (1819); *''Reports of the United States Supreme Court, 1828-43'' (seventeen volumes, 1828–43); *''Condensed Reports of Cases in the United States Supreme Court from its Organization till 1827'' (six volumes, 1835)

References

External links

Biography at Virtualology.com
under his great-uncle, also Richard Peters Reporters of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States 1780 births 1848 deaths Lawyers from Philadelphia 19th-century American lawyers {{US-law-bio-stub