John P. Hampton (died January 31, 1827)[1][2][3] was the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1818 until his death in 1827.

Born in South Carolina to a family "whose name adorns both the civic and military annals of that great commonwealth",[4][3] Hampton moved to the Mississippi Territory some time prior to the organization of the State Government, and was the first chief justice of the State of Mississippi, having taken his seat at the opening of the court, in the spring of 1818.[5]

He was noted for his opinion in the case of Frazer v. Davis,[6] where he held that the purchaser's failure to communicate to the seller a rumor of peace between the United States and Great Britain, calculated materially to affect the price of cotton (the commodity sold), vitiated the sale.[4] The correctness of the decision is controverted by the reporter in a note, and the Supreme Court of the United States came to a contrary opinion in a case arising in neighboring Louisiana, Laidlaw v. Organ.[7] Another noted decision the case of Stark's heirs vs. Mather,[8] addressing conflicting tenures arising under different grants, one of which was made by Spain and the other by the Government of the United States. The court held that if the prior Spanish grant was a nullity for want of power on the part of the Spanish Government to effectuate it, yet, being embraced in the confirmatory provisions of the Georgia Cession, it was valid, and that consequently the subsequent patentee claiming under the United States was merely a trustee of the former grant.[5] As a judge, Hampton "was accused of trying to enforce a standard of pure morality too lofty for practical use in the ordinary affairs of life".[3]

Hampton died at his home near Woodville, Mississippi,[2] and was succeeded by Edward Turner.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Meeting of the Members of the Bar of Natchez", Natchez Statesman and Gazette (February 7, 1827), p. 3.
  2. 1 2 The Eagle, Vicksburg Weekly General Advertiser (February 14, 1827), p. 2.
  3. 1 2 3 James L. Robertson, "Book Excerpt: Only People Were Slaves", 384 Mississippi Law Journal Vol. 87:3 (2018), p. 397-98.
  4. 1 2 Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. XI (1899), p. 504.
  5. 1 2 3 James Daniel Lynch, The Bench and Bar of Mississippi (1881).
  6. ↑ Walker's Reports, p. 72.
  7. ↑ 15 U.S. (2 Wheat.) 178 (1817).
  8. ↑ Walker's Reports, p. 180.


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