| Ovid Fraser Johnson | |
| Office: | Pennsylvania Attorney General |
| Term Start: | January 15, 1839 |
| Term End: | January 21, 1845 |
| Governor: | David R. Porter |
| Predecessor: | William B. Reed |
| Successor: | John K. Kane |
| Birth Date: | 7 March 1807 |
| Birth Place: | Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania |
| Death Place: | Washington, D.C. |
| Spouse: | Jane Alricks |
| Children: | 4 |
Ovid Fraser Johnson (March 3, 1807 – February, 1854) was a Pennsylvania lawyer, who served as state Attorney General.
He was born the son of Jehodia (or Jehoidia) Pitt Johnson and Hannah Fraser (or Frazer or Frazier).[1] [2] He was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county in 1831. He married Jane Alricks, a descendant of a New Netherland settler. They had four children. The one named after the father also became a lawyer.
Johnson was co-author, with Benjamin Parke, of A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, from [7 Apr. 1830 to 15 Apr. 1835] (Harrisburg, 1836).
The 1838 election of Governor Porter led to the appointment of Johnson to state Attorney General when he was only 31 years old. Porter's re-election led to Johnson serving two terms. Johnson's most notable case was Prigg v. Pennsylvania, where Edward Prigg was tried by Pennsylvania for kidnapping a "fugitive slave", despite Prigg's acting under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. Johnson took the unusual view that the federal and state laws were actually compatible, a view that would be rejected by the Supreme Court.[3]