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HENRY WHEATON (1785–1848)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 583 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HENRY WHEATON (1785–1848)  ,
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American lawyer and diplomatist, was born at
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Providence, Rhode Island, on the 27th of November 1785 . He graduated at Brown University in 1802, was admitted to the bar in 18o5, and, after two years' study abroad, practised law at Providence (1807–1812) and at New York City (1812-1827) . He was a justice of the Marine Court of the city of New York from 1815 to 1819, and reporter of the
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United States Supreme Court from 1816 to 1827, aiding in 1825 in the revision of the
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laws of New York . His
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diplomatic career began in 1827, with an appointment to Denmark as charge d'affaires, followed by that of minister to Prussia, 1837 to 1846 . During this period he had published a
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Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures (1815); twelve volumes of Supreme Court Reports, and a Digest; a
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great number of
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historical articles, and some collected
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works; Elements of International Law (1836), his most important
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work, of which a 6th edition with memoir was prepared by W . B . Lawrence and an eighth by R . H . Dana (q.v.); Histoire du Progres du Droit
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des Gens en
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Europe, written in 1838 for a prize offered by the French Academy of Moral and
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Political Science, and translated in 1845 by William B . Lawrence as A
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History of the Law of Nations in Europe and
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America; and the Right of Visitation and Search (1842) . The History took rank at once as one of the leading works on the subject of which it treats . Wheaton's general theory is that international law consists of " those rules of conduct which reason deduces, as consonant to justice, from the nature of the society existing among
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independent nations, with such
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definitions and modifications as may be established by general consent." In :846 Wheatonwas requested to resign by the new president, Polk, who needed his place for another appointment .

The

request provoked general condemnation; but Wheaton resigned and returned to the United States . He was called at once to the Harvard Law School as lecturer on international law; but he died at Dorchester, Massachusetts, on the 11th of March 1848 .

End of Article: HENRY WHEATON (1785–1848)
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