St. George Tucker

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St. George Tucker (July 10, 1752–10 November 1827) was a lawyer and professor of law at the College of William and Mary. Born near Port Royal, Bermuda, he traveled to Virginia to study law at the College of William and Mary in 1772 and was approved for the bar on 4 April 1774. He then settled permanently in Williamsburg and began practice in the county courts.

He served in the Virginia militia and cavalry in the American Revolutionary War. During the revolution, he was a colonel in the militia and later commanded the Chesterfield Militia, and saw action at the Battle of Guilford Court House and the Siege of Yorktown.

He married Frances (Bland) Randolph in 1778; Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. and N. Beverly Tucker were two of their sons. After his marriage, he moved to Chesterfield County. After the war he returned to practice in the county courts but, after his wife died, returned to Williamsburg to live. From 1788 to 1804, he was professor of law and police at the College of William and Mary.

He was a judge at various levels in Richmond, Virginia from 1788 to 1825, starting with the Virginia General Court. Upon the death of Judge Edmund Pendleton, in 1803, Judge Tucker was appointed to the Court of Appeals. He resigned this position in 1811 to become a judge of the district court of the United States district court.

His health began to fail several years later and he died in November 1827 after a long illness. During his lifetime he published an edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries, supplying valuable annotations. One of his sons, Henry St. George Tucker, later was on the Court of Appeals and was president of the court.

Tucker County, WV, and its original county seat St. George, WV bear the name of the prominent statesman.

[edit] Bibliography

A dissertation on slavery : with a proposal for the gradual abolition of it, in the state of Virginia / by St. George Tucker. Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey ..., 1796.

Blackstone’s commentaries : with notes of reference to the constitution and laws, of the federal government of the United States, and of the Commonwealth of Virginia : with an appendix to each volume, containing short tracts upon such subjects as appeared necessary to form a connected view of the laws of Virginia as a member of the federal union / by St. George Tucker ; with an introduction by Paul Finkelman and David Cobin. Union, N.J. : Lawbook Exchange, 1996.