Field, David D. (1805–1894)
FIELD, DAVID D. (1805–1894)
David Dudley Field, older brother of Justice stephen j. field, won a number of important cases before the Supreme Court in his career as a highly successful lawyer, ex parte milligan (1866), Cummings v. Missouri (1867), and united states v. cruikshank (1876) among them. His appearance on behalf of Jay Gould and Jim Fisk in the celebrated Erie Railroad scandal brought him popular criticism and charges of misconduct from his peers. He would later represent the Tweed Ring when his free services were rejected by the prosecution. As one biographer remarked, Field "was essentially a protestant, an originator, a breaker of precedents."
Field devoted his last decades to codification of municipal and international law. He also played a fundamental role in reforming the substantive and procedural codes of New York State; those codes would serve as models for many other states. He served as president of the American Bar Association, 1888–1889.
David Gordon
(1986)