Calvin Pease

Calvin Pease (September 9, 1776–September 17, 1839) was a lawyer and legislator in the U.S. State of Ohio who was in the Ohio Senate, in the Ohio House of Representatives, and an Ohio Supreme Court Judge 1816-1830.

Early life

Calvin Pease was born in Suffield, Connecticut. He studied law in the office of his brother-in-law Gideon Granger, and was admitted to the bar in 1798, practicing in New Hartford, Connecticut. He came to the Northwest Territory in 1800. He was appointed first clerk of the court of quarter sessions in August in Warren, and admitted to the bar in October. After Ohio's statehood, he was elected president-judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the Third Circuit.

Impeachment

While Pease was Judge of the Third Circuit, the Legislature passed a law that "justices of the peace should have jurisdiction in civil cases to the amount of $50, without the right of trial by jury." Pease held that this was in conflict with the United States Constitution, which stated "in suits of common law when the value shall exceed $20, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved," and the State Constitution, which stated "the right of trial by jury shall be inviolate." Supreme Court Judges George Tod and Samuel Huntington upheld Pease's decision. Pease and Tod were impeached by the legislature. Huntington was not impeached because he had already been elected governor and would resign his seat by the wend of the year. Pease and Tod were each acquitted in their impeachment trials by a single vote. One author says "From that day, the right of the Supreme Court to pass on the constitutionality of laws has seldom even been questioned." In 1816, the Legislature elected him to the Ohio Supreme Court, a position he held until 1830.

On June 2, 1804, Pease married Laura Grant Risley in Washington, D.C. They had seven children, five of whom survived to adulthood.

Calvin Pease died September 17, 1839, in Warren. He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Warren, and his wife was buried next to him after she died April 6, 1872.