Gabriel Duvall

"Gabriel Duval" redirects here. For the Maryland secondary school, see Gabriel DuVal Senior High School.

Gabriel Duvall
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
In office November 23, 1811 – January 12, 1835
Nominated by	James Madison
Preceded by	Samuel Chase
Succeeded by	Philip Pendleton Barbour
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 2nd district
In office November 11, 1794 – March 28, 1796
Preceded by	John Francis Mercer
Succeeded by	Richard Sprigg, Jr.
Personal details
Born	December 6, 1752(1752-12-06) Prince Georges County, Maryland
Died	March 6, 1844(1844-03-06) (aged 91) Glenn Dale, Maryland
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Florence "Ellen" Adams Washburne Duvall
Religion	Reformed

Gabriel Duvall (December 6, 1752 – March 6, 1844) was an American politician and jurist.

Career

Born in Prince George's County, Maryland, Duvall read law to enter the Bar in 1778. He married Florence (Ellen) Adams Washburne (1754-1853), the daughter of General Henry Gilman Washburne and Florence Adams Washburne, on 1778. He was a clerk for the Maryland Council of Safety from 1775 to 1777, and for the Maryland House of Delegates from 1777 to 1781. He participated in the American Revolutionary War, first as a Mustermaster and commissary of stores in 1776, then as a private in the Maryland militia, where he fought in the battles of Brandywine and Morristown. He was a Commissioner to preserve confiscated British property from 1781 to 1782, then a member, Maryland Governor's Council from 1782 to 1785. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, serving there from 1787 to 1794. He served one term as a U.S. Representative from the second district of Maryland, from November 11, 1794, to March 28, 1796. He was then Chief Justice of the Maryland General Court from 1796 to 1802, and was the first U.S. Comptroller of the Treasury from 1802 to 1811.

On November 15, 1811, Duvall was nominated by President James Madison to an Associate Justice seat on the Supreme Court of the United States vacated by fellow Marylander Samuel Chase. Duvall was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 18, 1811, and received his commission the same day.

In the twenty-three years he sat on the Supreme Court, Duvall penned an opinion in only seventeen cases. For all of Duvall’s tenure, John Marshall presided as Chief Justice. In only two cases, does the record show the two men holding different opinions. In Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward,^[1] Duvall offered only a brief note calling attention to French law on the irrevocability of royal charters. In Mima Queen v. Hepburn,^[2] Duvall would have authorized the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia to accept hearsay evidence proving the emancipation of a slave by her owner, but the rest of the Court, per the Chief Justice, decided against it. He served until January 12, 1835, when he resigned due to old age.

Death and legacy

Duvall lived for nine years after he retired, and died in Prince George's County, Maryland. Justice Duvall's home, Marietta House Museum, is open to the public and is operated as an historic house museum by M-NCPPC.

See also

• List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• List of United States Chief Justices by time in office
• List of United States Supreme Court Justices by time in office
• United States Supreme Court cases during the Marshall Court

References

1. ^ 17 U.S. (4 Wheaton) 518 (1819).
2. ^ 11 U.S. (7 Cranch) 290 (1834).

• Gabriel Duvall at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Further reading

• Abraham, Henry J. (1992). Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506557-3. 
• Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books). ISBN 1568021267. 
• Flanders, Henry. The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874 at Google Books.
• Frank, John P. (1995). Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L.. eds. The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0791013774. 
• Hall, Kermit L., ed (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195058356. 
• Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0871875543. 
• Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994). The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 590. ISBN 0815311761. 
• White, G. Edward. The Marshall Court & Cultural Change, 1815-35. Published in an abridged edition, 1991.

External links

• Gabriel Duvall at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Marietta House Museum, Duvall's plantation
• Biography from OYEZ project
• The Most Insignificant Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry by David P. Currie

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by John Francis Mercer	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 2nd congressional district 1794 – 1796	Succeeded by Richard Sprigg, Jr.
Legal offices
Preceded by Samuel Chase	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States November 18, 1811 – January 12, 1835	Succeeded by Philip Pendleton Barbour

Persondata
Name	Duvall, Gabriel
Alternative names
Short description	United States federal judge
Date of birth	December 6, 1752
Place of birth	Prince George's County, Maryland
Date of death	March 6, 1844
Place of death	Prince George's County, Maryland