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commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America. The island of St. John changed its name in his honor to Prince Edward island. In 1802 he became governor of Gibraltar; but his rigid dis- cipline produced a mutiny, and he was recalled. On 20 May, 1818, he married the Princess Maria Louisa Victoria, widow of the Prince of Leiningen, and daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Queen Victoria was the only child of this union.

KENT, James, jurist, b. in Putnam countv, N. Y., 31 July, 1763; d. in New York city, 12 Dec., 1847. His grandfather, Elisha, was gradu- ated at Yale in 1729, became the pastor of the Presbyterian church at Philippi, N. Y., in 1740, and died there in 1776, and his father, Moss, was graduated at Yale in 1752, became a lawyer, was surrogate of Rens- selaer county, and died in 1794. James was graduated at Yale in 1781, where he was one of the founders of the Phi Beta Kappa society in 1 780, studied law with Egbert Ben- son, was admitted to practice as an attor- ney in 1785 and as a counsellor in 1787, and settled in Poughkeep- sie, N. Y. He had been attracted to the

study of the law by

reading Blackstone at the age of sixteen. Not satisfied with the limited classical acquirements obtained at college, he adopted at the beginning of his professional life a plan of daily study, which he followed until he was elevated to the supreme bench. Rising early in the morning, he devoted two hours to Latin and two to Greek before breakfast. After the conclusion of his la- bors for the day he was accustomed to read French works for two hours, and, when not socially en- gaged, devoted his evenings to English writers. He was elected to the legislature in 1790 and 1792, but was defeated as the Federalist candidate for con- gress in 1793. He had already achieved a high reputation for legal learning, and on removing to New York city was appointed professor of law at Columbia college, which post he held till 1798. His attention was called to the writers on civil law of continental Europe by Alexander Hamilton, whose acquaintance he had made during the strug- gle over the adoption of the Federal constitution in New York state. Reading the works of Pothier, Emerigon, and other French jurists, he became imbued with the principles of the civil law. He began his lectures in November. 1794. The "Introductory" was published by the trustees of the college, and three preliminary dissertations, discussing the constitutional history of the United States and important principles of the law of nations, were issued by him in a volume (1797). In 1796 Gov. Jay, whose friendship he had won when a member of the legislature by his course during the election dispute in 1792 between Jay and George Clinton, appointed him one of the two masters in chancery, and in the same year he was returned to the legislature from New York city. In an anniversary address before the State society for the promotion of agriculture, arts, and manufactures in 1796, he displayed an enlightened appreciation of the material needs and capabilities of the country. In 1797 he was appointed recorder of New York city, an officer at that time exercising civil jurisdiction, and Gov. Jay nominated him in 1798 as one of the justices of" the supreme court. On becoming a judge he returned to Poughkeepsie, but in 1798 removed to Albany, where he continued to reside while he was on the bench. In 1802 he was joint editor of a collection of the "Revised Statutes of the State of New York." On 2 July. 1804, he became chief justice of the supreme court. He originated the custom of presenting a written argumentative opinion, with the citation of legal authorities, in all cases of importance. The law was at that time in an inchoate condition, and the courts depended for precedents on English decisions, and followed the procedure of the English tribunals. Judge Kent applied himself to the task of determining the unsettled principles of the law. In defining the limitations of the English common law as applicable to the United States, in the interpretation of constitutional provisions and the construction of recent statutes, in settling the forms of judicial procedure and the principles of practice, and in evolving principles of commercial law to fit the changing conditions of commerce and production and the needs of a young and growing nation, he did as much as any other jurist to give shape and direction to the evolution of American jurisprudence. To questions of commercial and maritime law and the interpretation of contract obligations he brought the light of his reading of the civil law and its commentators. His written opinions contain the results of exhaustive researches on every mooted point. His decisions are fully recorded in the " Reports " of George Caines (New York. 1813), and William Johnson's " Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court and Court of Errors of New York from 1806 to 1823." On 25 Feb., 1814, he was appointed chancellor of New York. The court of chancery previous to his accession had been shunned by lawyers and litigants on account of its dilatory proceedings and circuitous and expensive forms of practice. Chancellor Kent enlarged and improved the court, and by expounding and applying the doctrines of chancery, which before had not been adequately administered, laid the foundations of equity jurisprudence in the United States. His chancery decisions are given in Johnson's " Reports of Cases in the Court of Chancery of New York from 1814 to 1823." At the age of sixty, though possessed of the fullest degree of physical and mental vigor, he was retired in conformity with a statute that was afterward repealed. As judge of the supreme court and as chancellor he had important legislative as well as judicial duties to perform. The higher judiciary constituted with the governor a council of revision, possessing a qualified veto on acts of the legislature, until the council was abolished, with the acquiescence of the judges, by the constitutional convention of 1822. He was active and efficient in the discharge of these political functions. In the discussions of the constitutional convention he took an active part, opposing without success the extension of the electoral franchise and other democratic innovations, but succeeding in the prevention of the proposed abolition of the court of chancery. His name was warmly urged by William Wirt, then attorney-general, for an appointment to a vacancy in the U. S. supreme court, but President Monroe had alreadv selected Smith Thompson. Returning to New Yprk city, he resumed the professorship of law in Columbia college. A "Summary of the First Ten Lectures" was published in 1824. The courses of lectures delivered to the classes during two years were em-