Prentiss Mellen, Maine's First Chief Justice: A Legal Biography

It is in the bosoms of his contemporaries of the profession, and of his clients and personal friends, that the memory of the lawyer is embalmed . . . . [Chief Justice Mellen's] life furnishes a striking illustration of the justness of the preceding remarks, since it was that of one almost exclusively conversant with the active practice of the law. Thus wrote Simon Greenleaf shortly after Prentiss Mellen's death. Greenleaf, perhaps due to the modesty of one in a similar position, was only partially correct. True, few today, even in the legal profession, recognize the name of Maine's first United States Senator and Chief Justice. Greenleaf's pessimism is, nevertheless, overstated. Prentiss Mellen's contribution to the first two decades of statehood survives as the foundation of today's state government, and the existing materials tell more about that contribution than this brief study can relate.