EVARTS, WILLIAM MAXWELL (1818–1901)

William Maxwell Evarts, called "the Prince of the American Bar," was probably the most famous, successful, and influential lawyer of his time. He defended andrew johnson in the President's impeachment trial, and he served as attorney general, secretary of state, and United States senator (Republican, New York). Twice Evarts almost became chief justice of the United States. His lasting impact on American constitutional law derived from his pathbreaking arguments as counsel and his authorship of the circuit courts of appeals act (1891). In the granger cases (1877) he argued that rate regulation interfered with the management and beneficial use of private property, reducing profits and thereby taking private property without just compensation or due process of law. He lost that case, but his argument was destined for eventual acceptance. in re jacobs (1885) was his greatest constitutional triumph. His argument, which the New York Court of Appeals adopted, advanced substantive due process of law and the doctrine of freedom of contract. Evarts was a stalwart champion of vested rights and an opponent of government regulation. The Circuit Courts of Appeals Act (Evarts Act) created the modern three-tier structure of the federal courts and the discretionary writ of certiorari by which the Supreme Court manages its appellate jurisdiction.

Leonard W. Levy
(1986)

Bibliography

Twiss, Benjamin 1942 Lawyers and the Constitution. Pages 93–109. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.