Stephen Sewall was a judge in colonial Massachusetts

Province of Massachusetts Bay

The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in North America. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England and Scotland...

. Born in Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, Massachusetts

Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...

, he was the son of Stephen Sewall, the clerk of court at the Salem witchcraft trials

Salem witch trials

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...

, and a nephew of Chief Justice Samuel Sewall

Samuel Sewall

Samuel Sewall was a Massachusetts judge, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials, for which he later apologized, and his essay The Selling of Joseph , which criticized slavery.-Biography:...

, who presided at the witchcraft trials. He was the uncle of lawyer Jonathan Sewall

Jonathan Sewall

Jonathan Sewall was the last British attorney general of Massachusetts.He was born in Boston on August 24, 1729 to Jonathan and Mary Sewall. Sewall's father was an unsuccessful merchant who died at a young age...

.

Although never formally trained as a lawyer or admitted to the bar, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court

Massachusetts Superior Court

The Massachusetts Superior Court has original jurisdiction in civil actions over $25,000, and in matters where equitable relief is sought. It also has original jurisdiction in actions involving labor disputes where injunctive relief is sought, and has exclusive authority to convene medical...

, the highest court in the colony. He also served on the Massachusetts Council, which was then the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court

Massachusetts General Court

The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...

. He was generally respected by both friends (the "court party") and foes (the "popular party") of royal government.

Sewall's death in Boston in 1760 was followed by controversy. James Otis, Jr.

James Otis, Jr.

James Otis, Jr. was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, and an early advocate of the political views that led to the American Revolution. The phrase "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny" is usually attributed to him...

 believed that his father, James Otis, Sr.

James Otis, Sr.

James Otis, Sr. was a prominent lawyer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. His sons James Otis, Jr. and Samuel Allyne Otis also rose to prominence, as did his daughter Mercy Otis Warren...

, had been promised the office of chief justice, but Governor Francis Bernard appointed Crown supporter Thomas Hutchinson instead, creating a political rift that would have important implications in the development of the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

. While Sewall had expressed doubts about the legality of writs of assistance, which were controversial general search warrants, Hutchinson authorized them—over the objections of Otis—in the famous "writs of assistance case" of 1761.