Gale Encyclopedia of American Law Volume 6 P17 fully illuminates today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, important documents and more. Legal issues are fully discussed in easy-to-understand language, including such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, physician-assisted suicide and thousands more. | 148 KENT JAMES James Kent. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS disrupted his studies. During one of his forced suspensions Kent read Sir William Blackstone s Commentaries on the Laws of England 176569 which led him to decide on a legal career. Following college he secured a clerkship with the attorney general of New York and he was admitted to the New York bar in 1785. Kent began his law practice in Poughkeepsie New York. In 1790 he was elected to the New York state legislature where he served three terms. A steadfast Federalist and supporter of the . Constitution Kent was committed to a strong national government. After losing a congressional race in 1793 he moved to New York City where he practiced law and served as a professor of law at Columbia University. Kent became a member of the New York Supreme Court in 1798 and served as chief justice from 1806 to 1814. He is credited with transforming the court into a professional respected bench. He introduced the practice of issuing written as well as oral opinions and was instrumental in appointing an official reporter to collect the written opinions into official LAW REPORTS. Kent believed that such reports were necessary so that past precedents could be read and cited more easily. During his time on the court Kent addressed the then burning issue of whether English precedents could claim the authority of law in the United States. Some members of the New York bar felt that the American Revolution would be unfinished until the United States had a body of law of its own untainted by the laws of its former imperial master. Kent disagreed. He argued that the predictability of justice was an indispensable requirement for achieving the commercial progress and stable social order sought by the Federalists. He further suggested that citation and the following of precedent were the best means to judicial predictability. Like many Federalists he admired the stability of the English common law and he maintained that it was the best system
