Lawyer and professor, born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA. He read and practised law in Maine from 1806, and when Maine became a state he was appointed reporter to its supreme judicial court (182032). He then became a professor of law at Harvard (183348). Always deliberate and thorough, as seen in his widely hailed Treatise on the Law of Evidence (3 vols, 184253), he is regarded, along with Joseph Story, as instrumental in shaping Harvard Law School.
Simon Greenleaf (December 5, 1783 – October 6, 1853), American jurist, was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Early life and legal career
When a child he was taken by his father to Maine, where he studied law, and in 1806 began to practice at Standish.
Royal professor of law
In 1833 he became Royal professor, and in 1846 succeeded Judge Joseph Story as Dane professor of law in Harvard University. Greenleaf was one of the principal founders of the Harvard Law School.
In 1848, Greenleaf retired from his active duties, and became professor emeritus. Greenleaf's well-known work, a Treatise on the Law of Evidence, is considered a classic of American jurisprudence.
Contributions to Christian Apologetics
Greenleaf is an important figure in the development of that Christian school of thought known as legal or juridical apologetics. This school of thought is typified by legally trained scholars applying the canons of proof and argument to the defence of Christian belief. Greenleaf's book The Testimony of the Evangelists set the model for many subsequent works by legal apologists.
Greenleaf's principal work is a Treatise on the Law of Evidence (15 vols., 1842-1853). He also published A Full Collection of Cases Overruled, Denied, Doubted, or Limited in their Application, taken from American and English Reports (1821), and Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence administered in the Courts of Justice, with an account of the Trial of Jesus (1846; He revised for the American courts William Cruise's Digest of Laws respecting Real Property (3 vols., 1849-1850).
Mentioned by actor Corbin Bernsen, playing Mitch Kendrick, in Judgment (a.k.a.
The Simon Greenleaf School of Law
In 1980 a law school opened in Anaheim, California that was named in his honor, The Simon Greenleaf School of Law. This school was founded by the Evangelical theologian-lawyer John Warwick Montgomery. From 1980-88 the law school published a journal named The Simon Greenleaf Law Review. In 1997 the law school became part of Trinity International University.
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