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'Oyez! Oyez! Oyez:' The first Supreme Court of the United State and it's archaic call

By Charles Apple

‘Oyez’ means ‘hear ye’ and was used three times to call courts to order in medieval Europe. It’s still used today to call to order the Supreme Court of the United States.

That court first met on Feb. 2, 1790 — 235 years ago Sunday in the old Royal Exchange Building in New York City. Presiding was the man shown above: the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Jay.

The First Chief Justice: John Jay

The Constitution states that the nation’s judicial power “shall be vested in one supreme Court” but leaves to Congress how that court is to be set up or how many judges should serve on that court.

Five months into its first session, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1798, which set up 13 district courts in major cities, three circuit courts and a Supreme Court to be composed of a Chief Justice and five associate justices.

President George Washington signed the Judiciary Act into law on Sept. 24, 1789 and, later that day, nominated John Jay of New York to be Chief Justice and five others to be associate justices. Jay had written five of The Federalist Papers, served in the First Continental Congress and as president of the Second Continental Congress, had been ambassador to Spain and had obtained loans from Spain to fight the war for independence, helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris ending the war and had then been Secretary of Foreign Affairs and then interim Secretary of State.

Jay was sworn into office on Oct. 19, 1789 and called for the court to convene for the first time in the Merchant’s Exchange Building on Feb. 1, 1790.

The Court's First Associate Justice

WikiMedia Commons

WikiMedia Commons

James Wilson, Pennsylvania. Sworn In: Oct. 5, 1789

A leading legal theorist and a key figure at the Constitutional Convention but hampered by bad debts that piled up from his gambling losses. Even while serving on the court, Wilson was imprisoned twice for bad debts. He died in 1798 while still a member of the Supreme Court.

Virginia Appellate Court

Virginia Appellate Court

John Blair Jr., Virginia. Sworn In: Feb. 2, 1790

Attended the Constitutional Convention and was strongly allied with James Madison. He served on Virginia’s highest courts and was regarded as one of the nation’s best legal scholars. He served on the Supreme Court until 1795.

WikiMedia Commons

WikiMedia Commons

William Cushing, Massachusetts. Sworn In: Feb. 2, 1790

Spent 12 years as Chief Justice of Massachusetts before joining the Supreme Court. Cushing declined Washington’s nomination as Chief Justice in 1796. He served as an associate justice until 1810, after serving 20 years and 11 months, making him the longest-serving of all Washington’s appointees.

National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery

John Rutledge, South Carolina. Sworn In: Feb. 15, 1790

A member of the Constitutional Convention, Rutledge was on the court for two years without hearing a case. He quit in 1791 but then, when Jay resigned in 1795, Washington asked Rutledge to become Chief Justice. He heard two cases before Congress rejected his permanent nomination.

WikiMedia Commons

WikiMedia Commons

James Iredell, North Carolina. Sworn In: May 12, 1790

Washington nominated his former military secretary, Robert Harrison, but illness kept him from accepting the position. Plan B was Iredell, who had helped organize the court system in North Carolina. The heavy travel burdens of court duties caused his health to fail. Iredell died in 1799.

The Court's First Few Years Were Quiet Ones

Delays in getting the justices to New York caused that first Supreme Court session to be pushed back a day to Feb. 2. And even then, the few justices who had officially taken office occupied themselves with organizational matters.

Originally, the Supreme Court met for only a few weeks each February and August. The court would hear only 13 cases over its first six years.

That doesn’t mean the justices weren’t busy, however. Part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 required Supreme Court justices to preside, twice a year, over various circuit courts around the country. This resulted in justices to traveling to those those lower courts — in stagecoaches and on primitive roads for up to 19 hours a day. Jay found this so exhausting that, at one point, he considered resigning.

Congress responded in 1793 by reducing the requirement to one journey per year. The circuit court wouldn’t be removed from Supreme Court justices’ duties until 1891.

In addition to his duties as Chief Justice, Jay was a busy guy. Twice, while serving on the court, he ran for governor of New York. In 1794, Washington sent Jay as a special envoy to London to negotiate a treaty to avoid another war with Great Britain.

The treaty was signed in November 1794 and was successful in de-escalating tensions between the two countries. However, what came to be called the Jay Treaty was extremely controversial in the U.S. with opposing political leaders and newspaper editorials calling for his execution. Jay later said he could find his way across the country by the light of his burning effigies.

Before Jay returned to the U.S., he was finally elected governor of New York. He resigned as Chief Justice and served six years as governor.

Washington offered the vacant Chief Justice post to John Rutledge, who served temporarily until the Senate met to confirm his appointment. Noting his inflammatory speech against the Jay treaty, the Senate rejected his appointment.

Rutledge resigned from the court and attempted suicide by jumping off a wharf into the harbor in Charleston, S.C. He was rescued by two slaves who saw him jump.

Finding A Permanent Home For The Court

National Archives

National Archives

The Royal Exchange

While New York served as the nation’s first capital, the Supreme Court met on the second floor of the Royal Exchange building in what is now the city’s financial district. The court met here for 10 days in February 1790 and then again for two days in August before moving to Philadelphia.

National Perk Service

National Perk Service

Old City Hall, Philadelphia

Since there were still no cases to hear, the court met for two days in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in 1791 before moving to the east wing of Old City Hall for their August term. State and city courts were also held in the east wing, while Congress met in the building’s west wing.

Architect of The Capitol

Architect of The Capitol

U.S. Capitol

The capital was moved to the new city of Washington, D.C., in 1800, but no provision had been made to house the Supreme Court. The court was forced to meet in nearby homes or taverns and then in the Capitol basement until 1861, when it moved into the former Senate chamber.

WikiMedia Commons

WikiMedia Commons

Supreme Court Building

Chief Justice William H. Taft — who had previously served one term as president — in 1912 began pressing hard for the court to have its own building. That finally happened in October 1935, when the court moved into its current home, east of the Capitol and one block north of the Library of Congress.

Sources: “A People’s History of the Supreme Court” by Peter Irons, “The Supreme Court Explained” by Ellen Greenberg, “Rediscovering the Founding Fathers: The Illustrated History of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” by Morin Bishop, Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court Historical Society, U.S. Senate on the Judiciary, National Park Service, Politico, National Constitution Center, ConstitutionFacts.com, MountVernon.org, History.com