Tapping Reeve House and Law School
A brown wooden house with wing, lit by the sun from above. At the foot of a small tree in front of the building at the center, an oval sign identifies it as the Tapping Reeve House and Law School
East elevation and north profile of Tapping Reeve House, 2010
Litchfield Law School is located in Connecticut
Litchfield Law School
Litchfield Law School is located in the United States
Litchfield Law School
LocationLitchfield, CT
Coordinates41°44′38″N 73°11′19″W / 41.74395°N 73.18851°W / 41.74395; -73.18851
Built1784
NRHP reference No.66000879
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966[1]
Designated NHLDecember 21, 1965[2]

The Litchfield Law School was a law school in Litchfield, Connecticut, that operated from 1774 to 1833. Litchfield was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietary school was unaffiliated with any college or university.[3] While Litchfield was independent, a long-term debate resulted in the 1966 recognition of William & Mary Law School as the first law school to have been affiliated with a university.[4]

Reeve began teaching his first student in 1774 and was teaching by lecture by 1784. Reeve later became the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. The school closed in 1833, having educated over 1,100 students, including Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun. The law school, including Reeve's house, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965 as the Tapping Reeve House and Law School,[2][5] which is owned and operated by the Litchfield Historical Society as a museum displaying life in a 19th-century period school.[6] The Society also operates the Litchfield History Museum.

Tapping Reeve

Reeve was born on Long Island, New York, in 1744. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1763, serving for seven years as a tutor at the Grammar School that was connected with the college. There he met the children of Aaron Burr Sr.—Aaron Burr (later Vice President of the United States) and Sally Burr, who were both his students.

Tapping Reeve moved to Connecticut and studied law under Judge Jesse Root of Hartford, and was admitted to the bar in 1772. In the same year, he married Sally Burr. They then moved to Litchfield and Reeve started his own law practice. Tapping Reeve built his six-room Litchfield house in 1773 and settled in with his wife. In 1780 he added a downstairs wing for Sally, who found it difficult to climb stairs.

Law school

Judge Gould's Law School Building, from a 1920 image

In addition to practicing law, Reeve trained many prospective attorneys, including Aaron Burr, his brother in law. Students lived in the homes of town residents and traveled to Reeve's house on South Street to receive their morning lectures on the common law in Reeve's downstairs parlor. In 1784, in response to increasing demand, Reeve had a one-room school built adjacent to his house.[7] James Gould became Reeve's associate when Reeve was elected to the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1798. Reeve withdrew in 1820 and Gould continued until 1833. The school's lectures covered the entire body of the law including real estate, rights of persons, rights of things, contracts, torts, evidence, pleading, crimes, and equity.[citation needed]

Notable alumni

See also: Category:Litchfield Law School alumni

The list of students who attended Tapping Reeve's law school includes two Vice Presidents of the United States (Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun), 101 members of the United States House of Representatives, 28 United States senators, six United States cabinet secretaries, three justices of the United States Supreme Court, 14 state governors and 13 state supreme court chief justices. Litchfield Law School students also held state and local political office and became business leaders. Students went on to found university law schools and become university presidents.[8] Framed pictures of students are still hung in the school, including George Catlin, Horace Mann (the educator), Aaron Burr, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and Roger Sherman Baldwin. Each name is followed by the year that the student finished, when known.[9]

Pictured in 1929

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Tapping Reeve House and Law School". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  3. ^ Harno, Albert J. (1953). Legal Education in the United States: A Report Prepared for the Survey of the Legal Profession (1980 ed.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 28–32. ISBN 0313224250.
  4. ^ "1966 Debate Over the First Law School in America" The Bridgeport Post Sept. 15, 1966 via scholarship.law.wm.edu, William & Mary Law School. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  5. ^ Blanche Higgins Schroer and S. Sydney Bradford (January 16, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Tapping Reeve House and Law School" (PDF). National Park Service. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 5 photos, exterior, from 1965 and 1974.
  6. ^ "Litchfield Historical Society: The Ledger". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  7. ^ Litchfield Law School, Litchfield Historical Society
  8. ^ "Litchfield Law School Students, Litchfield Historical Society". Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2008.
  9. ^ "Litchfield Law School History". Litchfield Ledger. Litchfield Historical Society. 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  10. ^ "John Allen". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  11. ^ "Ezekiel Bacon". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  12. ^ "William J. Bacon". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  13. ^ "Joshua Baker". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  14. ^ "Henry Baldwin". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  15. ^ "Roger Sherman Baldwin". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  16. ^ "James Bell". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  17. ^ Old Colony Historical Society (1878). Collections of the Old Colony Historical Society. The Society. p. 128.
  18. ^ "Aaron Burr". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  19. ^ "Chester Pierce Butler". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  20. ^ "John Caldwell Calhoun". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  21. ^ "George Catlin". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  22. ^ "Charles C. Chapman". www.ledger.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  23. ^ "John M. Clayton". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  24. ^ Litchfield Law School (1900). The Litchfield Law School, 1784-1833. Litchfield, CT: Litchfield Enquirer. p. 25.
  25. ^ "John A. Collier". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  26. ^ "Joel Crawford". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  27. ^ "William Crosby Dawson". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  28. ^ "Thomas Day". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  29. ^ History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, Volume 1. H. Z. Williams & Bro. (Cleveland). 1878. p. 182.
  30. ^ "Amos Ellmaker". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  31. ^ "Henry Leavitt Ellsworth". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  32. ^ "John Myers Felder". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  33. ^ "Thomas Flournoy Foster". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  34. ^ "Samuel A. Foot". National Governors Association. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  35. ^ "John Brown Francis". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  36. ^ "Albert Collins Greene". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved March 27, 2014.
  37. ^ "Hopkins Holsey". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  38. ^ "Ward Hunt". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  39. ^ James Gore King, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
  40. ^ "Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  41. ^ Pope, Charles Henry (1917). Loring Genealogy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Murray and Emery. pp. 166–169. Retrieved November 5, 2023 – via archive.org.
  42. ^ "Horace Mann". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  43. ^ New England Historic Genealogical Society (1907). New England Historic Genealogical Society. The Society. p. 185.
  44. ^ "Rutger B. Miller". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  45. ^ "Eugenius Aristides Nisbet". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  46. ^ "Elisha Phelps". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  47. ^ Ullery, Jacob G. (1894). Men of Vermont Illustrated. Brattleboro, VT: Transcript Publishing Company. pp. 183–184.
  48. ^ Richards, Irving T. (1933). The Life and Works of John Neal (PhD). Harvard University. p. 61. OCLC 7588473.
  49. ^ "Horatio Seymour". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  50. ^ "Roger Minott Sherman". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  51. ^ "Richard Skinner". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
  52. ^ "Perry Smith". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  53. ^ "Truman Smith". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  54. ^ "Benjamin Swift". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  55. ^ "Frederick A. Tallmadge". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  56. ^ "Uriah Tracy". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  57. ^ John J. Duffy; Samuel B. Hand; Ralph H. Orth, eds. (2003). The Vermont Encyclopedia. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. p. 290.
  58. ^ "Stephen Upson". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  59. ^ "Nicholas Ware". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  60. ^ "Lemuel Whitman". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  61. ^ "Elisha Whittlesey". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  62. ^ "Frederick Whittlesey". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  63. ^ "Thomas T. Whittlesey". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  64. ^ "Oliver Wolcott Jr". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  65. ^ "Levi Woodbury". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  66. ^ "Augustus Romaldus Wright". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  67. ^ Fisher, Samuel H. (1946). Litchfield Law School, 1774-1833: A Biographical Catalogue of Students. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Litchfield, Connecticut
Law schools in New England
U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Authority control databases
Categories