| Joel Parker | |
| Birth Date: | 25 January 1795 |
| Birth Place: | Jaffrey, New Hampshire |
| Death Place: | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Occupation: | Jurist |
| Education: | Dartmouth College |
| Signature: | Signature of Joel Parker (1795–1875).png |
| Office1: | Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court |
| Term Start1: | 1838 |
| Term End1: | 1848 |
| Office2: | Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court |
| Term Start2: | 1833 |
| Term End2: | 1838 |
| Office3: | Member of the New Hampshire Legislature |
| Term Start3: | 1824 |
| Term End3: | 1826 |
Joel Parker (January 25, 1795 - August 17, 1875) was an American jurist from New Hampshire.
Joel Parker was born at Jaffrey, New Hampshire on January 25, 1795.[1] He studied at Groton Academy,[2] and later Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1811.[1]
After studying law, he practiced at Keene. From 1824 to 1826, he was a member of the New Hampshire Legislature.[2] He was appointed an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1833 and became chief justice in 1838. He held this post until his resignation in 1848.[3] He studied at Groton Academy,[2]
In 1840 he was chairman of the committee on the revision of the New Hampshire statutes. From 1847 to 1857, he was professor of medical jurisprudence at Dartmouth. In 1848 he became a professor at the Harvard Law School, where he served until his death.[3] In 1856 he held that the states cannot be expanded to any more of the slave state. And in 1861 he held the President Jefferson Davis could not right of succession. Nevertheless, he opposed during the American Civil War the exercise by President Abraham Lincoln of what he deemed unconstitutional powers.
Joel Parker died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 17, 1875.[4]