Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Daniel, Peter Vivian

Peter Vivian Daniel served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1841 to 1860. A prominent lawyer and Democratic politician from Virginia, Daniel adhered to a Jeffersonian political philosophy that favored STATES' RIGHTS and disfavored large economic institutions. A minor figure in the history of the Supreme Court, Daniel joined the majority in DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393, 15 L. Ed. 691 (1857), which held that freed black slaves could not be citizens under the Constitution because they had originally been property, not citizens.

Daniel was born in Stafford County, Virginia, on April 24, 1784. He came from a wealthy family and was educated at Princeton University, graduating in 1805. He read the law in the Richmond offices of EDMUND RANDOLPH, who helped draft the Constitution. He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1808.