George Martin (c. 1815–December 15, 1867) was a justice of the

Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the s ...

from 1851 until his death in 1867. Born in

Middlebury, Vermont Middlebury is the shire town (county seat) of Addison County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,152. Middlebury is home to Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History and the adjacent ...

, Martin was the son of a tavern-keeper and graduated from

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 1833, and thereafter read law to gain admission to the bar in Vermont.Henry A. Chaney, "The Supreme Court of Michigan", '' The Green Bag'' (1890), Vol. 2, p. 388-89.Portrait Presentation George Martin
Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society.Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society biography of George Martin
In 1836, he moved to

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, settling at

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

. He was a justice of the peace of the village of Grand Rapids, and was a prosecuting attorney for a time, but held no other important office until in 1851, at the age of thirty-six, he was made a circuit judge to succeed Edward Mundy. By virtue of his office of circuit judge he was also a member of the Supreme Court as it was then constituted, and he continued the duties of both courts until the organization to which he was elected in the spring of 1857. Martin continued for more than sixteen years to hold that post under the two following judicial systems. When the independent court was organized, he drew the chief-justiceship by lot, and afterwards was chosen to that post by his associates, and held it until his death, which took place sixteen days before the close of his term. By dint of his office, he was also an ''ex officio'' Regent of the University of Michigan. He was described as having "extra ordinary gifts, and with them the vices that were common to many of his predecessors and contemporaries, — intemperance and unthrift", and that he was "keen to detect in a record some technical defect that would enable him to get rid of the case without taking the trouble to study it". In one noted case, ''Twitchell v. Blodgett'', he stated that he "could not allow to judicial doubts more potency than to legislative certainty". In the last three years before his death, Martin "was so unfit to work that he filed but few opinions".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, George 1810s births 1867 deaths People from Middlebury, Vermont Middlebury College alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court 19th-century Michigan state court judges