William Curtis Noyes, jurist, born in Schodack, Rensselaer County, New York

Rensselaer County, New York

Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 159,429. Its name is in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the land in the area. Its county seat is Troy...

, 19 August 1805; died in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, 25 December 1864.

Biography

He began the study of law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 when he was 14 in the office of Samuel B. Ludlow

Samuel Ludlow

Samuel B. Ludlow was an American jurist. He was one of the first lawyers in Nassau, New York, and was a corporation officer when Nassau was chartered, and was town clerk in 1835...

 of Albany. His parents soon afterward moved to Oneida County

Oneida County, New York

Oneida County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 234,878. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, an Iroquoian tribe that formerly occupied the region....

, where he entered the office of Henry R. Storrs. In 1827 he completed his studies and was admitted to the bar.

While not yet 30 he was appointed district attorney of Oneida County and soon rose to the front rank of the profession there. Later he relocated to New York City. Though never a politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 he took a deep interest in public affairs and was a man of extensive learning. His conversational powers were of the highest order. He cultivated an interest in beauty, art, and literature, and he possessed one of the finest law libraries in the U.S., which, upon his death, he gave to Hamilton College.

Noyes became one of the most powerful advocates at the New York bar. In 1857 he was appointed by the legislature a commissioner with Alexander W. Bradford and David Dudley Field to codify the laws of the state, and he was engaged in this work up to the time of his death. In the autumn of that year he was nominated as a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 for attorney general of the state but was defeated by Lyman Tremain

Lyman Tremain

Lyman Tremain was a jurist and politician from New York.He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced in Durham, where he was elected to his first political office as town supervisor in 1842. He was appointed District Attorney of Greene County in 1844...

.

In 1861 the legislature appointed him a commissioner to the conference, where he steadily labored to preserve the integrity of the republic, and at the same time maintain the honor of the loyal states. When, in the winter of the same year, the legislature had to elect a United States senator, he was one of the chief candidates for the nomination.

Mr. Noyes was retained in some of the most celebrated cases of his day. His masterly analysis of moral insanity

Moral insanity

Moral insanity is a medical diagnosis first described by the French humanitarian and psychiatrist Philippe Pinel in 1806...

 on the trial of Huntington, his argument in the court of appeals in the New Haven railroad case, his elaborate speech in the suit of the Delaware and Hudson Canal company vs. The Pennsylvania Coal Co. and his numerous arguments in some of the most important will cases were marked by learning, eloquence and close logic.

He was a firm advocate of temperance

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

 and devoted much time to addresses on this subject. His talents were always enlisted on the side of the people among whom he lived, and more than once fraudulent judgments against the city were vacated through his clear demonstration of their fallacy. As an equity lawyer he was without parallel, and in cross-examination he had no equal. Few witnesses that went on the stand before him with the determination to commit perjury

Perjury

Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

 ever left it without being exposed.

In 1856 he delivered an address before the graduating class of the law department of Hamilton College, and, although he had never received a college education, that institution conferred on him the degree of LL.D. True to his motto that it was "better that a man's brain should wear out than rust out," he continued to the last in the practice of his profession. His death was the result of apoplexy

Apoplexy

Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...

.

Initial text from Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography

Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography

Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography is a six-volume collection of biographies of famous Americans. It was published between 1887 and 1889 by D. Appleton and Company, New York. The general editors were James Grant Wilson and John Fiske; the managing editor from 1886 to 1888 was Rossiter...

(1887-1889)