WYTHE, GEORGE


Meaning of WYTHE, GEORGE in English

born 1726, Elizabeth City county, Va.

died June 8, 1806, Richmond, Va., U.S.

U.S. jurist and statesman.

Admitted to the bar in 1746, he was a member (1754–55, 1758–68) and clerk (1769–75) of the Virginia House of Burgesses . He practiced law in Williamsburg, Va., where he taught Thomas Jefferson . At the College of William and Mary (1779–89) he became the first professor of law in the U.S.; among his pupils was John Marshall . A delegate to the Continental Congress , he signed the Declaration of Independence . In 1776 he was appointed, with Jefferson and two others, to revise the laws of Virginia. As a chancery judge (1778–1806), he asserted, in Commonwealth v. Caton (1782), the power of courts to refuse to enforce unconstitutional laws. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention (1787) and of the Virginia convention (1788) that ratified the Constitution of the United States .

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.      Краткая энциклопедия Британика.