Samuel Hand (May 1, 1834 – May 21, 1886) was an Associate Judge of the

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the supreme court, highest court in the Judiciary of New York (state), Unified Court System of the New York (state), State of New York. It consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeal ...

in 1878.

Early life

Samuel Hand was born in Elizabethtown, New York on May 1, 1834, to Judge Augustus C. Hand and Marcia Seeyle Northrop. He went to

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

in Vermont, and later transferred to

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

after two years. He graduated in 1851 as the youngest member of his class, and received an honorary law degree from Union College in 1884.

Career

Hand's career in public service began in 1863, when he was appointed Corporation Counsel of Albany. He would then go on to serve as the official

court reporter A court reporter, court stenographer, or shorthand reporter is a person whose occupation is to capture the live testimony in proceedings using a stenographic machine or a stenomask, thereby transforming the proceedings into an official certif ...

of the New York Court of Appeals from 1869 to 1872. In 1878, Governor Lucius Robinson appointed Hand to the New York Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Associate Justice William Allen; Hand served on the court during the later half of 1878 before retiring to continue his private law practice.

Death

On May 21, 1886, Hand died at his home in Albany of

tongue cancer Oral cancer, also known as oral cavity cancer, tongue cancer or mouth cancer, is a cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless red or white patch, that thickens, gets ulcerated ...

; he was survived by his son,

Learned Hand Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 a ...

, himself a noted judge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hand, Samuel 1834 births 1886 deaths Judges of the New York Court of Appeals Union College (New York) alumni 19th-century New York state court judges