There is no report of his decisions, but he has left a reputation of being a faithful officer, with learning and brains, of great integrity, and perfectly reliable. In 1781 the College of New Jersey gave him the honorary de gree of A. M. In 1787, while still ChiefJustice, he was sent as a delegate from New Jersey to the Convention which framed the Federal Constitution. He took an active part in the deliberations of that body, sup ported the " New Jersey plan " for a con stitution, but signed the organic law when it finally passed. He was a member of the convention which met in New Jersey to consider the new Constitution, and urged its ratification.. In 1788 he was a presidential elector, and voted for Washington. He re signed his position as Chief-Justice in 1789, and was succeeded by James Kinsey. During the term of office of Chief-Justice Brearley, questions involving the construc tion of the Constitution of the United States, then recently adopted, came before his cour t for discussion and settlement. An opinion had been somewhat extensively held by law yers that the courts had no power to decide constitutional questions; that the English law should prevail, which never permitted the judges of the courts to determine as to the constitutionality of acts of the Leg islature. Chief-Justice Brearley grappled bravely with the disputed questions, vigor ously contended for the right of the court to pass judgment on such matters, and fear lessly decided that the Supreme Court had the right to construe the organic law of the country. James Kinsey was the son of John Kin sey, a member of the Society of Friends, who emigrated from England in 1716 and settled in New Jersey, where his son James was born in 1733. The elder Kinsey became Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania, which office he held for seven years and until his death. James Kinsey became a lawyer, and soon took a prominent part in the politics of New Jersey. He was a member of the Assembly in 1772, and became the leader of the
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opposition to Gov. William Franklin, the son of Benjamin Franklin, and the last Tory Governor of New Jersey. In 1774 he was elected a member of the Continental Congress, but resigned from that body in 1755, for reasons which were entirely satis factory to his constituents. In 1777 the Legislature, by statute, required all at torneys and counsellors to take an oath of allegiance to the new Government. Mr. Kinsey refused to take this oath, and was obliged to give up his practice, which was very extensive. It is supposed that he was prevented from complying with the act by reason of his devotion to the principles of the Society of Friends, of which, like his father, he was a member. In 1789, when Judge Brearley resigned, he was elected Chief-Justice, and at the expiration of his first term of office was re-elected, so that he held the position for nearly fourteen years. No suspicion ever attached to him as being disloyal to the cause of the colonies. Governor Livingston, one of the most ardent patri ots of Revolutionary time's, never doubted him, and firmly believed that he was fitted for the performance of the duties of the office of Chief-Justice. He was, however, not a man of broad intellect, but was well versed in the principles of law relating to real estate, and accurate in legal learning. His successor, Chief-Justice Kirkpatrick, who was emi nently qualified to judge, paid him a very high compliment in one of his opinions. The first book of law reports ever published in New Jersey began with his decisions. The re porter, Mr. Richard S. Coxe, was not regularly appointed, but obtained the cases and opinions he published, or the most of them, at second hand, from his father-in-law, Wil liam Griffith, who at one time was a judge of a United States Court. Chief-Justice Kinsey died in 1803, and was succeeded by .Andrew Kirkpatrick, who was then and had been for several years an Associate Justice. The Associate Justices with Chief-Justice Kinsey were Isaac Smith and John Chetwood. Judge Smith has already been noticed.
