Joel Parker (jurist)


Joel Parker was an American jurist from New Hampshire.

Biography

He was born at Jaffrey, New Hampshire. He studied at Groton Academy, and later Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1811. After studying law, he practiced at Keene. From 1824 to 1826, he was a member of the New Hampshire Legislature. He was appointed an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1833 and became chief justice in 1838. In 1840 he was chairman of the committee on the revision of the New Hampshire statutes. From 1847 to 1857, he was professor of medical jurisprudence at Dartmouth. In 1847 he became a professor at the Harvard Law School, where he served until his death. Conservative in politics, he opposed during the American Civil War the exercise by President Abraham Lincoln of what he deemed unconstitutional powers.

Works