The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Cooley, Thomas McIntyre

COOLEY, Thomas McIntyre, an American jurist, born at Attica, N. Y., Jan. 6, 1824. He began the study of law in 1842 at Palmyra, N. Y., but removed the next year to Adrian, Mich., where he was admitted to the bar in 1845. For a time he edited a newspaper, “The Watch Tower.” In 1857 he was appointed by the legislature to compile and publish the laws of the state, and in 1858 he was chosen reporter of the decisions of the supreme court. He held this office seven years, during which he published eight volumes of reports, which were followed by a digest of all the reports of the state. In 1859 the law department of the Michigan university was organized, and he was chosen one of the board of professors. He removed to Ann Arbor, where he resides, holding the office of dean in the law faculty. In 1864 he was elected to fill a vacancy on the bench of the supreme court of the state, and in 1869 was elected to that office for the full term of eight years. In 1868-'9 he held the position of chief justice. He has published a treatise on “The Constitutional Limitations which rest upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union” (1868; 2d ed., enlarged, 1871), and editions, with copious notes, of Blackstone's “Commentaries” (1870), and of Story's “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,” with additional chapters on the new amendments (1873). He has during his judicial career given many important opinions, some of them upon great constitutional questions. Among these is one in 1870 against the right of cities and towns to raise money by public tax in aid of railways and private corporations.