William Augustus Atlee
Encyclopedia
William Augustus Atlee was a Judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and a University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 Trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...

 1779-1786.

Atlee was born in Philadelphia on July 1, 1735. He later moved to Lancaster County where he read law with Edward Shippen
Edward Shippen (III)
Edward Shippen was a lawyer, judge, government official, and prominent figure in colonial and post-revolutionary Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

, Esq. (future Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court). Admitted to the bar on August 3, 1758, Atlee served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1777 to 1791. Under the Reorganization Act, he was selected to head the court of the Second District. An avowed Constitutionalist and an active Whig
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...

 during the American Revolution, his burning patriotic views during the Revolutionary period earned him the name "savage Atlee". Also, it is actually written that Justice Atlee was probably the most handsome of the five new President Judges. Justice Atlee held the office of President Judge for the Second Judicial District until his death on September 9, 1793, at which point John Joseph Henry
John Joseph Henry
John Joseph Henry was a private soldier from Pennsylvania in the American Revolutionary War.Henry, the son of William Henry of Lancaster and Ann Wood Henry, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His father, an important gunsmith, apprenticed him at age 14 to an uncle, also a gunsmith, who moved...

(November 4, 1758 – April 15, 1811) assumed his place.

The provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790 required for the first time that local courts have a Presiding Judge "learned in the law". Atlee was designated as the first President Judge of the Lancaster County court under the 1790 constitution. He held court in a structure in Penn Square, Lancaster, with the first session extending over four days beginning October 31, 1791. The two trials held during that term involved theft, one of a cow and one of a horse. The horse theft case had been held over for re-trial by order of the pre-constitutional court, and the alleged cow thief was cleared on the condition that he pay court costs.http://www.warwicktownship.org/courts/cwp/view.asp?a=467&Q=262076&courtsNav=%7C

Family

Brother, ATLEE, Samuel John, 1739-1786. A journal extract of Samuel John Atlee containing details of a battle between the British and the Continentals.

Wife, SAYRE, Esther Bowes. Eleven Children.

External links

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