Connecticut Supreme Court History
Volume I (2006)

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

Wesley W. Horton
President 

Dear Society Members and Friends: 

This is an exciting event in the history of the fledgling Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society: our first journal publication. I hope you enjoy reading it. If you are not yet a member, I hope you will join. 

While the Society is busy fledging, the Supreme Court is busy doing what it has been doing for 222 years: deciding cases that set precedents admired throughout the country. As one of the articles shows, in year two of its history (1785), the Supreme Court in effect declared a statute unconstitutional almost two decades before John Marshall took credit for creating the doctrine of judicial review. Another article explains why one can argue that this year the Court is really 200—and not 222—years old. 

The Society has been in existence for little over a year, and already we have accomplished much. We have over one hundred members. We have this publication. We have an archives committee at work. We have meetings. Yale Law School Professor Akhil Amar addressed a crowd of almost a hundred at our annual meeting in New Haven, comparing state and federal constitutional doctrine. If you were not there, you missed a memorable evening. At other meetings, Judge Jon Blue spoke about the Know Nothings and how they were responsible for reducing judicial tenure from permanent to age 70 and then down to eight years; former Chief Justice Ellen Peters spoke about the importance of the Society, and I spoke about the rather shocking obituary of Chief Justice John Park, which appeared in the Connecticut Reports in 1897 (68 Conn. 591). 

I want to thank my hard-working colleagues, Vice President Kit Collier, Secretary Charles Howard, Treasurer Tom Groark, Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Greg D’Auria, and committee chairs Mike Shea, Jeff White, Barbara Heck, John Farley, and Mike Besso. I also want to thank Justice Peter Zarella, without whose constant prodding this train would not have left the station. 

Welcome aboard. Enjoy the trip.

Connecticut Supreme Court History, Vol. I | Publications