FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY
David Dudley Field secured a place in the nineteenth century as a commanding legal
reformer. The primary achievement of the New York lawyer was his CODIFICATION of the common laws of the United States. In addition, Field was among the most successful commercial and constitutional lawyers in New York. The
cases he took on often anticipated those of the
modern, made-for-hire corporate lawyer. Field
also made contributions to the national politi-
cal scene. In different capacities, both before
and after the Civil War, he managed to represent
the constitutional interests of both the Democ-
ratic and Republican Parties. As a Northern
opponent of SLAVERY, still sympathetic to the
rights of Southerners, he pursued a fight for
justice for the common person on legal and
moral grounds. At the same time, his somewhat
radical belief in the need to streamline law
incited considerable resistance. During and
after his lifetime, lawyers and others remem-
bered him as a champion for the progress of
procedural law throughout the United States.
His lifelong goal of extending justice to the
common person left a lasting impression on the
U.S. legal system and, to some degree, on the
rest of the world.
Field was born February 13, 1805, in Had-
dam, Connecticut, into a remarkable, aristo-
cratic family. Nearly all the Fields of that era
achieved a degree of success. Field’s grandfather
Captain Timothy Field, of Guilford, Connecti-
cut, set the standard by fighting in the Revolu-
tionary War. Field’s father, the Reverend Dr.
David Dudley Field, was educated at Yale Col-
lege, became a minister, and received his doctor-
ate at the prestigious Williams College. Field’s
three brothers also obtained influence; in partic-
ular, STEPHEN J. FIELD became a justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Field followed his father’s lead by also
studying at Williams. He left the school in 1825
and began the study of law in the office of
Hermanus Bleecker of Albany, New York. In
1828, he was admitted to the bar as an attorney,
and in 1830, he was appointed a counselor. He
went on to practice law with his former teachers
from Williams, Henry Sedgwick and Robert
Sedgwick.
The tasks Field took on as a lawyer indicated
a daring side. JEREMY BENTHAM, an English eco-
nomic and legal philosopher and contemporary
