Recent Acquisition: More from Joseph Story on Proposed Federal Bankruptcy Law

 


A previous post introduced readers to the correspondence between Joseph Story and William Tudor. At the time of the letters, Story (1779-1845) was serving as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Tudor, who wanted to serve as the Massachusetts Commissioner of Bankruptcy as his father had, sought a letter of recommendation from Story. The initial request came from Tudor as Congress was considering a new bankruptcy bill, which Story emphatically supported. In our previously acquired letter, Story wrote that he was uncertain whether the legislation would grant appointment power to the executive or judicial branch.

In this letter, dated five months later, Story obliges Tudor with the requested letter of recommendation. He reminds Tudor that, as the bill stood at the time of writing, the appointment commission would be made up of State judges. Story notes that if the legislation were amended to give appointment power to the executive branch, Tudor would need to forward the recommendation to the President. At that time, he would have been referring to James Monroe.

Ultimately, the bill in question failed to pass. This would disappoint Story, who long advocated for a federal bankruptcy law. He would go on to aid in drafting similar legislation that was eventually passed by Congress in 1841, making it the first federal bankruptcy law enacted since the repeal of the Bankruptcy Act in 1803. Story would continue to serve on the Supreme Court until his death in 1845. To this day, he is the youngest Supreme Court Justice at the time of appointment.

Many thanks to Michael von der Linn at Lawbook Exchange for the description on which this post is based.