George Hay (Virginia)

George Hay (December 17, 1765 – September 21, 1830) was a United States federal judge.

Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, Hay read law to enter the bar, and was in private practice in Petersburg, Virginia, from 1787 to 1801, then in Richmond, Virginia, until 1803. He was a U.S. Attorney for the District of Virginia from 1803 to 1816, and served as prosecutor in the trial of Aaron Burr. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1816 to 1822, returning to private practice in Washington, D.C., from 1822 to 1825.^[1] He was married to Eliza Kortright Monroe, the daughter of President James Monroe.

Hay was an advocate for freedom of the press, and became known for his defense of James T. Callender at Callender's Sedition trial.^[2]

On July 5, 1825, Hay received a recess appointment from John Quincy Adams to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by St. George Tucker. Formally nominated on December 13, 1825, Hay was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 31, 1826, and received his commission the same day. He served until his death, in Richmond, Virginia.

Quotes

It is obvious in itself and it is admitted by all men, that freedom of speech means the power uncontrouled by law, of speaking either truth or falsehood at the discretion of each individual, provided no other individual be injured. This power is, as yet, in its full extent in the United States. A man may say every thing which his passion can suggest; he may employ all his time, and all his talents, if be is wicked enough to do so, in speaking against the government matters that are false, scandalous, and malicious; but he is admitted by the majority of Congress to be sheltered by the article in question, which forbids a law abridging the freedom of speech. If then freedom of speech means, in the construction of the Constitution, the privilege of speaking any thing without controul, the words freedom of the press, which form a part of the same sentence mean the privilege of printing any thing without controul. (An essay on the liberty of the press)

A citizen stands safe within the sanctuary of the press, if he should endeavour to prove that there is no God, or affirm, that there are twenty Gods: If he condemns the principle of republican institutions, and contends, that liberty and property can never be secure, but under the protection of aristocracy or monarchy: If he censures the measures of our government, and of every department and officer there-of, and ascribes the measures of the former, however salutary, and the conduct of the Matter, however upright, to the basest motives; even if he ascribes to them measures and acts which never had existence; thus violating at once, every principle of decency and truth. (An essay on the liberty of the press)

References

Sources

• George Hay at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• An essay on the liberty of the press: respectfully inscribed to the republican printers throughout the United States, 1799.
• "O Say Can You See: Early Washington, DC Law & Family Project". Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.