Martin Augustine Knapp

Martin Augustine Knapp (November 6, 1843 – February 10, 1923) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Commerce Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United States Circuit Courts for the Second Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Education and career

Born in Spafford, New York, Knapp received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in 1868 and read law to enter the bar in 1869. He entered private practice in Syracuse, New York in 1870, and was counsel for the municipal corporation of Syracuse 1877 to 1883. In 1891, he was appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission by President Benjamin Harrison, reappointed in 1897 by President Grover Cleveland, and again reappointed in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt, becoming Chairman of the Commission from 1898, where he served until 1910. Under the Erdman Act as ex officio mediator, he assisted in the work of settlement of numerous disputes between the public and the railroads.