Chief Justice John Marshall Renders a Legal Opinion to His Son About His Own Personal Affairs

“You require no authority in writing from me to proceed in my name against them. If I do not disavow your act no person can inquire into it. As it will be performed in my name it must be considered as if done by myself.”

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One of just four Marshall legal opinions of any kind that we know of having reached the market

He also provides his son with a personal power of attorney, the only personal power of attorney of Marshall we can recall seeing

John Marshall lived in Washington during the U.S. Supreme Court’s annual...

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Explore & Discover

  1. A letter to his son - This is a rare letter of Chief Justice John Marshall to a close family member, in this case his son
  2. Date - The date let's us know that this is a letter written by Marshall as he presided over the United States Supreme Court
  3. Marshall my attorney - The letter is a rare example of Marshall offering a legal opinion and also creating a legally binding document, giving his son the right to act on his behalf
  4. Signature - A beautiful, bold signature of the great Chief Justice

Chief Justice John Marshall Renders a Legal Opinion to His Son About His Own Personal Affairs

“You require no authority in writing from me to proceed in my name against them. If I do not disavow your act no person can inquire into it. As it will be performed in my name it must be considered as if done by myself.”

One of just four Marshall legal opinions of any kind that we know of having reached the market

He also provides his son with a personal power of attorney, the only personal power of attorney of Marshall we can recall seeing

John Marshall lived in Washington during the U.S. Supreme Court’s annual term, which was approximately three months each year (January through March). He boarded with Justice Joseph Story at the Ringgold-Carroll House during his final years. The 1834 term of the Court – Marshall’s second to last – opened on January 13, and Marshall arrived in Washington in advance of the opening. The Court was scheduled to decide three constitutional issues, but two justices were ill and absent, and there was disagreement on the issues among the rest. Chief Justice John Marshall said, “The practice of this Court is not…to deliver any judgment in cases where constitutional questions are involved unless four Judges concur in opinion, thus making the decision that of a majority of the whole Court. In the present cases four Judges do not concur…The Court therefore direct these cases to be reargued at the next term, under the expectation that a larger number of Judges will be present.”

But the 1834 docket of the Court was nonetheless crowded with other issues, and the justices decided 61 cases, all but one unanimously. Marshall spoke for the Court 29 times. It was in this term that Marshall’s Court decided Wheaton vs. Peters, a case that upheld the power of Congress to grant and protect copyrights.

Marshall was a wealthy man who owned thousands of acres of land in his native Virginia, and when he was away from home, he entrusted management of his holdings to his son, James K. Marshall. In his will, the Chief Justice showed the level of trust between father and son by naming James executor: “I therefore appoint my son, James Keith Marshall, to be my sole executor, directing that no surety shall be required from him, and allowing him $1000 for his pains.”

James clearly discovered that there were squatters on a piece of the Marshall land, or that the land was being used for logging or hunting by unauthorized persons, and wanted to take legal action against them. But he was concerned that he needed some authority from his father, in whose name the land was held. The Chief Justice of the United States here renders a legal opinion that the authority in this case was inherent, and to ease his son’s concern, further provides him with a personal power of attorney.

Autograph letter signed, Washington, January 13, 1834, the very day he returned the bow of the bar and spectators as he opened the 1834 Court session, to his son James K. Marshall. “I received your letter respecting the trespass on the mountain the day before I left Richmond. You require no authority in writing from me to proceed in my name against them. If I do not disavow your act no person can inquire into it. As it will be performed in my name it must be considered as if done by myself. But to remove your scruples I hereby constitute you James K. Marshall my attorney in fact with full power for me and in my name to institute actions of trespass or any other action or actions against any person or persons who shall enter upon any lands to which I have a legal title or do any injury whatever thereto, and to take all such steps or proceedings respecting the said lands as I might myself take were I present.” The address leaf in Marshall’s hand is still present.

This letter has descended in the Marshall family until now.

Legal opinions of Marshall of any kind are rare, and his personal powers of attorney even more so. A search of public sale records going back over 40 years shows no powers of attorney having reached that marketplace at all, and just two legal opinions. A third Marshall legal opinion was discovered by the Raab Collection, and is listed on its website. This is the fourth.

John Marshall sat for his last Court term in 1835 and died, much lamented, in 1836. James K. Marshall went on to serve in the Virginia legislature in both House and Senate. His namesake nephew, Col. James Keith Marshall, was a brigade commander under General Pickett and was killed in Pickett’s Charge.

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