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Revision as of 18:35, 3 July 2006 by Newyorkbrad (talk | contribs) (typo cleanup and some additional material)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Peter J. Hamilton (1859-1928) was an Alabama lawyer and historian who also served as Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 1913 to 1921.
Hamilton was born in Mobile, Alabama. He studied at Princeton University and the University of Leipzig before obtaining advance law degrees at the University of Alabama. Hamilton's books during his Alabama years included Colonial Mobile: An Historical Study (1897), Early Southern Institutions (1898), and Mobile of the Five Flags (1913).
Hamilton, a Democrat, was appointed as the federal judge for Puerto Rico in 1913 by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson, who was his classmate at Princeton University. (Hamilton actually was first nominated by outgoing President William Howard Taft, but it appears that this was a courtesy nomination on behalf of incoming President Wilson.)
Hamilton served two four-year terms as District Judge in Puerto Rico, obtaining reappointment from President Wilson in 1917. Hamilton and the federal court in Puerto Rico were unpopular with some segments of the Bar in Puerto Rico, and there was a series of attempts to induce Congress to abolish the federal court, which were unsuccessful. Hamilton was a strong proponent of bringing Puerto Rico under greater influence by the United States, and supported increased use of the English language in Puerto Rico.
In 1921, President Warren G. Harding, a Republican, declined to reappoint Hamilton to a third term. He was succeeded by Arthur Odlin.
Hamilton remained in Puerto Rico for the remainder of his life. In addition to practicing law, in 1922 he published Origin and Growth of the Common Law in England and America. He also wrote a series of articles for the Harvard Law Review comparing the common law and civil law systems. He died in 1928.
There is no full-length biography of Hamilton, but he is the subject of published articles by his daughter, Rachel Duke Hamilton, and by Puerto Rican historian Carmelo Delgado Cintron.