John Chandler Bancroft Davis (December 29, 1822 – December 27, 1907), commonly known as (J. C.) Bancroft Davis, was an attorney, diplomat, judge of the Court of Claims, and Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Education and career

Born on December 29, 1822, in Worcester, Massachusetts, Davis read law in 1844 and received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1847 from Harvard University. He was Secretary and United States Agent for the Joint High Commission in Geneva, Switzerland from 1871 to 1873. The position of court reporter entailed that he write "a summary-of-the-case commentary." Why Bancroft Davis's role in the controversy is worth mentioning is that he noted in the headnote to the court's opinion that the Chief Justice Morrison Waite began oral argument by stating, "The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does."

In a published account of Bancroft's collected Supreme Court reports and notes from 1885 to 1886, he wrote of the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad case that, "The defendant Corporations are persons within the intent of the clause in section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Journalists and authors such as Thom Hartman have since cited Davis's prior position as president of Newburgh and New York Railway as evidence of a conflict of interest in the corporate personhood interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling dealing with a railroad. The controversy regarding Bancroft Davis's summary remains unsolved.

Death

Davis died on December 27, 1907, at his residence, 1621 H Street NW, in Washington, DC

Family

Davis was the son of John Davis, a Whig governor of Massachusetts, and was the older brother of United States Representative Horace Davis.

Personal

On November 19, 1857, Davis married Frederica Gore King (1829–1916). Frederica was the daughter of James G. King (1791–1853), an American businessman and Whig Party politician and the granddaughter of both Archibald Gracie and Rufus King, who was the Federalist candidate for both Vice President (1804 and 1808) and President of the United States (1816). They did not have any children.

Works

  • (1847) The Massachusetts Justice
  • (1871) The Case of the United States Laid before the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva
  • (1873) Treaties and Conventions Concluded between the United States of America and Other Powers, Since July 4, 1776 (Revised edition)
  • (1893) Mr. Fish and the Alabama Claims: A Chapter in Diplomatic History ,
  • (1897) Origin of the Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America

See also

  • Davis political family

References

Sources

  • The United States Court of Claims : a history / pt. 1. The judges, 1855–1976 / by Marion T. Bennett / pt. 2. Origin, development, jurisdiction, 1855–1978 / W. Cowen, P. Nichols, M.T. Bennett. Washington, D.C. : Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States, 1976 i.e. 1977–1978. 2 vols.