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Parsons (THEOPHILUS an American jurist)

THEOPHILUS, an American jurist; born in Essex co., Mass., Feb. 24, 1750; was graduated at Harvard College College in 1769, and studied law at Falmouth (now Portland), in Maine, where he was admitted to the bar in 1774. He was a member of the convention which, in 1779, framed the State constitution of Massachusetts and of the convention called to ratify the Constitution of the United States in 1789. In 1800 he removed to Boston. He was appointed in 1806 chief justice of Massachusetts. As a lawyer, "he had," according to Justice Story, "no equal in Massachusetts"; and he probably had few, if any, superiors in the United States.' A collection of his judicial opinions was published; "Commentaries on the Law of the United States." He died in 1813.