St. George Tucker

St. George Tucker (July 10, 1752 – November 10, 1827) was a Bermudian-born American lawyer, military officer and professor who taught law at the College of William & Mary. He strengthened the requirements for a law degree at the college, as he believed lawyers needed deep educations. He served as a judge of the General Court of Virginia and later on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals (now the Supreme Court of Virginia).

Following the American Revolutionary War, Tucker supported the gradual emancipation of slaves, which he proposed to the state legislature in a pamphlet published in 1796. He wrote an American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England that became a valuable reference work for many American lawyers and law students in the early 19th century. President James Madison in 1813 appointed Tucker as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia, later serving on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Many of his descendants became notable lawyers, professors and politicians.