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Tapping Reeve
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Tapping Reeve (October 1, 1744 – December 13, 1823) was an American lawyer and law educator. In 1784 he opened the Litchfield Law School, the first law school in the United States, in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Tapping Reeve was born in Brookhaven, New York, on Long Island, to Reverend Abner Reeve. He graduated with his Bachelors degree in 1763 from the College of New Jersey in Princeton, NJ. While earning his Masters there (completed 1766) he also served as a headmaster of the grammar school associated with the college in nearby Elizabeth, NJ.
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Encyclopedia
Tapping Reeve (October 1, 1744 – December 13, 1823) was an American lawyer and law educator. In 1784 he opened the Litchfield Law School, the first law school in the United States, in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Tapping Reeve was born in Brookhaven, New York, on Long Island, to Reverend Abner Reeve. He graduated with his Bachelors degree in 1763 from the College of New Jersey in Princeton, NJ. While earning his Masters there (completed 1766) he also served as a headmaster of the grammar school associated with the college in nearby Elizabeth, NJ. It was here that he tutored the two children of Rev. Aaron Burr, who was the college president: future Vice President of the U.S. Aaron Burr, Jr. and Sarah, known as Sally. Reeve married Sarah on June 4, 1771 when she was 17 years old. Sarah was often in ill health, but on October 3, 1780 she gave birth to their only child, Aaron Burr Reeve. Aaron Burr Reeve would go on to graduate from Yale and became a lawyer in Troy, New York. Tapping and Sarah were married until her death on March 30, 1797. He married again in 1799, but had no other children. Tapping Reeve died on December 13, 1823 in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was 79 years old.
Reeve tutored at the college from 1767 to 1770. In 1771 he began to study law with Judge Root, of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1772 he moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, situated on the crossroads of important inland trade routes, to open a new law practice. In 1773, he built a six-room, two story house.
Reeve, while a fervent supporter of the patriot cause, did not enter active service early in the Revolutionary War. His wife's poor health held him at home. However, in December of 1776, the Connecticut Assembly called upon him to travel the state to drum up volunteers for the Continental Army. He then accepted a commission as an officer and accompanied his recruits as far as New York before returning to his ailing wife.
In 1781 Reeve worked with Theodore Sedgwick to defend Elizabeth Freeman (known as Mum Bett), who had been a slave in Sheffield, MA. Bett had listened to discussions related to the Massachusetts Constitution and had heard the phrase "all men are created equal." Sedgwick and Reeve would successfully employ this argument in court to secure her freedom. This case, (Brom & Bett v. Ashley) would set a precedent that would later lead to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.
Like his own teacher, Judge Root, Reeve had taken his brother-in-law, Aaron Burr, Jr. as a student. In the beginning, Aaron Burr lived upstairs and took instruction in the downstairs parlor, adjacent to the gathering room where Reeve would hold mock court. Also on the first floor was Reeve's private law office. Due in part to notoriety gained from the Elizabeth Freeman case, Reeve's enrollment began to grow. In 1784, he added a second building (known as the Samuel Seymour House) to house and instruct his students.
Also among his students was John C. Calhoun. Like Aaron Burr, he would also go on to become Vice President of the U.S.
In 1798, Reeve became a Judge of Connecticut's Superior Court. Reeve then hired James Gould, a former student, to assist in running the school. Together, they built up the most prominent law school of its time.
Reeve is also noted for bringing Rev. Lyman Beecher, a noted adversary of Unitarianism, to serve as a minister in Litchfield in 1810.
In 1814, Reeve would be appointed as Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Connecticut. At this time, Gould took over the school. Reeve would continue contact with the school until 1820, three years before his death. The school continued to operate until 1833.
Reeve's Law of Baron and Femme, first published in 1816 was the pre-eminent American treatise on family law for much of the 19th century. It underwent revisions and re-publication in 1846, 1867, and 1888.
His home, now known as Tapping Reeve House and Law School, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
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