Edward Coppée Mitchell (July 26, 1836 – January 25, 1886) was an American lawyer and educator. He served as chair of Law of Real Estate, Conveyancing and Equity Jurisprudence and dean of the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

from 1873 to 1886 and as vice provost of the Law Academy in Philadelphia from 1877 to 1886.

Early life and education

Mitchell was born in 1836 in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

to John James and Elizabeth (Coppée) Mitchell. He entered

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in 1851 but transferred to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in his sophomore year and graduated in 1855. He was a member of the

Zeta Psi Zeta Psi () is a collegiate fraternity. It was founded in June 1, 1847 at New York University. The organization now comprises fifty-three active chapters and thirty-four inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand members, and is a ...

fraternity. He worked in the law office of John C. Mitchell, and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in October 1858. He received his doctorate of law degree from Hobart College in 1876.

Career

Mitchell served as chair of Law of Real Estate, Conveyancing and Equity Jurisprudence and as dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law school from 1873 to 1886. He served as vice provost of the Law Academy in Philadelphia from 1877 to 1886. He was an expert in real estate law and published several books on the subject including, ''The Law of Real Estate and Conveyancing in Pennsylvania'' (1890) with Robert Ralston, ''Separate Use in Pennsylvania'', ''Contracts for the Sale of Land in Pennsylvania'' and ''The Equitable Relation of the Buyer and Seller of Land Under Contract and Before Conveyance''. He served as vice president of the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Association and on the Pennsylvania Board of Public Charities and the Fairmount Park Commission. Edward Coppee Mitchell gravestone

Mitchell suffered from bouts of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

, and died of heart failure on January 25, 1886. He was interred in

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

in Philadelphia.

Personal life

He lived at 2015 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mitchell was married to Eliza C. Stevens and together they had six children. Mitchell was a senior member of the

Masonic Order Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, and served as Grand Master of the

Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, officially The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania and Masonic Jurisdictions Thereunto Belonging, is the premier masonic organizati ...

from 1885-1886.

Publications

*
Separate Use in Pennsylvania, Considered with Respect to the Restraint on Alienation
', Philadelphia: T & J.W. Johnson & Company, 1875 *
The Equitable Relations of Buyer and Seller of Land Under Contract and Before Conveyance
', Philadelphia: Rees Welch & Co., 1877 *
Principles of the Law of Real Estate. Intended as a First Book for the Use of Students in Conveyancing
', Philadelphia: T & J.W. Johnson & Company, 1879 *
The Law of Real Estate and Conveyancing in Pennsylvania
', Philadelphia: Rees Welch & Co., 1890

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, E. Coppée 1836 births 1886 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American non-fiction writers American Freemasons Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Deans of University of Pennsylvania Law School Educators from Philadelphia Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni Lawyers from Philadelphia Masonic Grand Masters People from Savannah, Georgia Scholars of property law University of Pennsylvania alumni