John B. Minor

American academic

John Barbee Minor (June 2, 1813 – July 29, 1895) was an American jurist and slaveowner. He practiced law in Virginia and then taught at the University of Virginia School of Law for fifty years. His students achieved eminence in professional or public lives. Some referred to his teaching career as not only the longest but the ablest known to Anglo Saxon jurisprudence, and one declared that "he has exerted, and still indirectly exerts, a wider influence for good upon society in the United States than any man who has lived in this generation."

Minor was born in Louisa County, Virginia on June 2, 1813, to Launcelot Minor and Mary Overton Tompkins. Reportedly, he was considered a weakling at sixteen, but endured a long, horseback journey through the state as a newspaper agent and collector and then walked to Ohio, where he entered Kenyon College. Two of his classmates there became prominent: David Davis, who became United States Senator, United States Judge, and administered the estate of President Lincoln; and Edwin M. Stanton became Secretary of War under Lincoln. Afterwards Minor walked through Ohio and New York, for health and recreation, and, having reached home, entered the University of Virginia in January 1831, where he was a student for three sessions, "graduating in several schools", and received the Bachelor of Law degree in 1834, at twenty one. He later married Martha Macon Davis, the sister of his law instructor Professor John A. G. Davis, in whose home he tutored while pursuing his own studies. (One source

As a teacher Minor was regarded with peculiar affection. Taking a personal interest in his pupils, he endeavored to develop their character as well as their minds. Professor Minor, "a man of stern morality and firm conservative convictions," profoundly influenced James Clark McReynolds, who went on to be attorney general of the United States and a justice of the United States Supreme Court. Future president Woodrow Wilson studied law under Minor in 1879. Professor Minor continued to inspire and impress for fifty years until his death, July 29, 1895. He is buried at the University of Virginia cemetery.

Of his monumental Institutes of Common and Statute Law, Senator Daniel said: "It cannot be surpassed as a vade mecum of the law; it is like a statue, solid, compact, clean cut; it contains more law in fewer words than any work with which I am acquainted."

For his eminent attainments, Minor received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from both Washington and Lee and from Columbia. On the fiftieth anniversary as a teacher of the law the University Law Alumni presented him with a life size marble bust, mounted upon a polished pedestal bearing these impressive words: "He taught the law and the reason thereof." James Russell Lowell wrote his obituary, claiming Minor had signed more law diplomas than anyone in the country's history. Minor Hall, occupied by the law school from 1911 to 1932, was named after him. The University of Virginia School of Law established a John B. Minor professorship in Law and History.

Minor, John B. A Synopsis of the Law of Crimes and Punishments in Virginia: For the Use of the Students of Law in the University of Virginia. Richmond, Va: M. W. Hazlewood, 1869. Minor, John B. Synopsis of the Practice of the Law in Virginia in Civil Cases. Charlottesville, Va., 1874. Minor, John B. Institutes of Common and Statute Law. Third edition. Richmond: Printed for the author, 1882. 2 v.
Minor, John B. Part of the Law of Personal Property: Including the Law of Bankruptcy and the Law of Executors & Administrations. 1888. Minor, John B. Synopsis of the Law of Crimes and Punishments. 1890. Minor, John B. Exposition of the Law of Crimes and Punishments. Richmond: The author, 1894. Minor, John B, and Raleigh C. Minor. University of Virginia: Private Summer Course of Law Lectures, 1895 : Lectures to Commence June 27th, (4th Thursday), and to Continue Two Months. Charlottesville, Va.: 1895.