Who appointed Richard Law?

President George Washington appointed Richard Law to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in 1789.

What was Richard Law's confirmation vote?

Richard Law was confirmed by voice vote on September 26, 1789. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Connecticut / Appointed 1789 / Served to 1806

Richard Law

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

Appointed by President George Washington in 1789 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Law was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1733–1806
Appointed by: George Washington, 1789
Confirmed: by voice vote
Succeeded by: Pierpont Edwards

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1789	District of Connecticut	Washington (–)	Voice vote

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.

Confirmation vote

Voice vote

The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.

Education

Yale College		1751
Read law		1755

Before the bench

Professional career before and outside the federal bench, as recorded by the Federal Judicial Center.

Private practice, Milford, Connecticut	1755-1757
Private practice, New London, Connecticut	1757-1765
Justice of the peace, New London, Connecticut	1765-1775
Member, Connecticut General Assembly	1765-1776
Chief judge, New London County [Connecticut] Court	1773-1784
Clerk, Connecticut General Assembly	1774-1776
Assistant, Connecticut General Assembly	1776-1786
Delegate, Continental Congress	1774, 1776, 1777, 1780-1783
Judge, New London [Connecticut] Superior Court, 1784-1789; chief judge	1786-1789
Mayor, New London, Connecticut	1784-1806

Judicial Record

In our data, Law authored 1 published opinion for the court (2007). Most cited: Ard Ex Rel. Estate of Ard v. Metro-North Railroad (4 citations).

A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Recent & notable rulings

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2007	Ard Ex Rel. Estate of Ard v. Metro-North Railroad	492 F. Supp. 2d 95	4

Showing the 1 most-cited of 1 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed Richard Law?: President George Washington appointed Richard Law to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in 1789.
What was Richard Law's confirmation vote?: Richard Law was confirmed by voice vote on September 26, 1789. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Richard Law on?: Richard Law was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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16 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Data as of 2026-09-28. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).