John Duer

John Duer, New York lawyer and judge

John Duer (born in Albany, New York, 7 October 1782; died on Staten Island, 8 August 1858) was a New York jurist.

Biography

He was the son of William and Catherine Duer. He entered the army at age 16, but after two years left for the study of law. He was trained in the office of Alexander Hamilton, began a practice in Orange County, New York, and moved to New York City in 1820, where he acquired reputation as an insurance lawyer.

He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1821, and in 1825 was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the statutes law of the state, and afforded valuable assistance in the preparation of the first half of the work. He was elected an associate judge of the New York Superior Court, and, on the death of Judge Thomas J. Oakley in 1857, became Chief Justice.

Works

• A Lecture on the Law of Representations in Marine Insurance, with Notes and Illustrations (New York, 1844)
• A Treatise on the Law and Practice of Marine Insurance, which has became a standard authority in the United States (2 vols., 1845–46)
• A Discourse on the Life, Character, and Public Services of James Kent, Chancellor of the State of New York, delivered by request before the judiciary and bar of the city and county of New York (12 April 1848)
• Three of the Revised Statutes of the State, in connection with Benjamin F. Butler and John C. Spencer

At the time of his death, he was editing Duer's Reports of the Decisions of the Superior Court, the sixth volume of which he left incomplete.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Duer, William" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
• John Duer at Find a Grave
• Sketches of Some of the Prominent Members of the Orange County Bar, by Walter Case Anthony (1917)