George Tod (judge)

Tod was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale in 1797. He taught school, studied law at Litchfield Law School, and was admitted to the bar in Connecticut. He married Sallie Isaacs in 1797. She was sister in law of Governor Ingersoll. Children Charlotte and Jonathan were born in Connecticut.Upton 1910, p. 80 In 1808, he took on as an apprentice, the young Jesse Root Grant, the future father of Ulysses S. Grant, for four years.White, 2016, p. 7

Tod came to the Western Reserve in 1800. He was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of Trumbull County that year. He was a township clerk 1802-1804. Tod was elected to the Ohio Senate for the third and fourth General Assemblies, 1804-1806.Ohio 1917, p. 217 In 1806 the Ohio Legislature appointed him a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court.

While Calvin Pease was judge of the Third Circuit, the Ohio 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." In Rutherford v. M'Fadden, 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."Upton 1910, p. 84 This decision established judicial review of legislative decisions.{{Ohio History Central |383|George Tod|date= July 1, 2005}} 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.Neff 1921, p. 50-53{{cite web |last1=O'Brien |first1=Dan |title=Flashback: The Impeachment of George Tod |url=https://businessjournaldaily.com/flashback-impeachment-george-tod/ |website=Business Journal Daily {{!}} The Youngstown Publishing Company |access-date=3 January 2023 |date=15 March 2019}}{{cite web |title=SamuelHuntington » Supreme Court of Ohio |url=https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/judicial-system/supreme-court-of-ohio/justices-1803-to-present/samuel-huntington/ |website=www.supremecourt.ohio.gov |access-date=3 January 2023}} One author says "From that day, the right of the Supreme Court to pass on the constitutionality of laws has seldom even been questioned." Another says "The Ohio legislature, however, would continue to try to establish itself as the dominant force in state government at the expense of the judicial branch." The legislature voted to end all judicial terms in 1810.

Tod was elected to the Ohio Senate again in the 9th and tenth General Assembly, 1810-1812Ohio 1917, p. 218 In the War of 1812, Tod served as a lieutenant-colonel including action at Fort Meigs. After the war, he was a Common Pleas judge from 1815 to 1829, and prosecuting attorney for one term. He died in 1841. He died at his farm called Brier Hill and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Youngstown. His wife died September 29, 1847, at Brier Hill, and was buried with him.

Tod's son, David Tod was born in 1805, and went on to be Civil War-era governor of Ohio. George and Sallie Tod had five children.

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book |ref=reed|title=Bench and Bar of Ohio: a Compendium of History and Biography |editor1-first=George Irving |editor1-last=Reed |editor2-first=Emilius Oviatt |editor2-last=Randall |editor3-first=Charles Theodore |editor3-last=Greve |volume=1 |year=1897 |publisher=Century Publishing and Engraving Company |location=Chicago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4gQ9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA12}}
• {{cite book|ref=west|title=History of the Western Reserve |volume=1 |first=Harriet Taylor |last=Upton|editor-first=Harry Gardner |editor-last=Cutler |publisher=The Lewis Publishing Company |author-link=Harriet Taylor Upton|location=New York |year=1910 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEsbLFoBttYC&pg=PA80}}
• {{cite book|title=Manual of legislative practice in the General Assembly |last=Ohio General Assembly |author-link=Ohio General Assembly |year=1917 |ref=ohio1917|publisher=State of Ohio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qesAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA220 }}
• {{cite book|ref=bbno|title=Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio History and Biography |editor-last=Neff |editor-first=William B |publisher=The Historical Publishing Company |location=Cleveland |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DgwwAAAAYAAJ/page/n54 50]|year=1921 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DgwwAAAAYAAJ }}
• {{cite book |last=White |first=Ronald C. |year=2016 |title=American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-5883-6992-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPNRCwAAQBAJ |ref=white}}
• {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Tod, George|year=1900}}

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{{s-bef | before=Benjamin Tappan}}

{{s-ttl |title=Senator from Trumbull County | years=1804-1806}}

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{{s-ttl |title=Senator from Trumbull County | years=1810-1812}}

{{s-aft | after=Calvin Pease}}

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Category:Ohio lawyers

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:Ohio state senators

Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Ohio

Category:People from Trumbull County, Ohio

Category:1773 births

Category:1841 deaths

Category:County district attorneys in Ohio

Category:Litchfield Law School alumni

Category:United States Army personnel of the War of 1812

Category:United States Army officers

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:United States judges impeached by state or territorial governments

Category:19th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly