Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Peabody, Charles Augustus

PEABODY, Charles Augustus, jurist, b. in Sandwich, N. H., 10 July, 1814. He was educated privately and at Harvard law-school, settled in New York city in 1839, and has since resided there. He was a member of the convention that organized the Republican party in his state in 1855, was chosen a justice of the supreme court in the same year, served till the end of 1857, and in 1858 became commissioner of quarantine. In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln judge of the U. S. provisional court of Louisiana, holding office till 1865, “with authority to hear, try, and determine all causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue, and admiralty, . . . his judgment to be final and conclusive.” He was also sole judge of another court of unlimited criminal jurisdiction during a part of that time. In 1863 he became chief justice of the supreme court of Louisiana, and in 1865 he was appointed U. S. attorney for the eastern district of Louisiana, but declined that post, and resumed practice in New York city. Judge Peabody was one of the vice-presidents of the Association for the reform and codification of the laws of nations, and has very frequently attended its annual meetings in various cities of Europe.