Justice Samuel Putnam

Justice Samuel Putnam

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130187754/samuel-putnam

In a celebrated 1830 Massachusetts decision, Harvard v. Amory, Judge Samuel Putnam pronounced a legal principal that became the universal standard for fiduciary conduct, the “Prudent Man Rule.” His opinion stated:

All that can be required of a trustee to invest, is, that he shall conduct himself faithfully and exercise a sound discretion. He is to observe how men of prudence, discretion, and intelligence manage their own affairs, not in regard to speculation, but in regard to the permanent disposition of their funds, considering the probable income, as well as the probable safety of the capital to be invested. That rule, as modified and narrowed by state legislatures and courts, has guided trustees for over 150 years. But the certainty and protection it provides trustees increasingly has come at the expense of investment performance. For example, the rule evolved to prohibit entire categories of investments and to protect trustees who ignore the impact of inflation or deliver mediocre investment results so long as they invest in “prudent” securities.

Ref.: < http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthr... > and < https://www.ifa.com/articles/early_american_contributor_to_modern_f... >
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Judge Putnam, jurist, born in Danvers, Essex County, Massachusetts on 13 April, 1768; died in Somerville, Massachusetts on 3 July, 1853. He was graduated at Harvard in 1787, studied law, and began practice in Salem in 1790. He soon attained high rank at the Essex county bar, and represented that county in the state senate in 1808-14, and in the legislature in 1812. From 1814-1842 he was justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts. Harvard College gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1825.

His daughter-in-law, Mary Traill Spence Lowell, author, born in Boston, Massachusetts on 3 December, 1810, is a daughter of the Reverend Charles Lowell. She married Samuel R. Putnam, a merchant of Boston, in 1832, and subsequently resided several years abroad. She has contributed to the" North American Review" articles on Polish and Hungarian literature (1848-'50), and to the "Christian Examiner" articles on the history of Hungary (1850-'1), and is the author of " Records of an Obscure Nan " (1861); "The Tragedy of Errors" and the "Tragedy of Success," a dramatic poem in two parts (1862); "Memoir of William Lowell Putnam " (1862);" Fifteen Days" (1866); and a "Memoir of Charles Lowell" (1885).

Her son, William Lowell, soldier, born in Boston on 9 July, 1840; died near Ball's Bluff, Virginia on 21 October, 1861, was educated in France and at Harvard College, where he studied mental science and law. He entered the 20th Massachusetts regiment in 1861, was ordered to the field in September, and was killed while leading his battalion to the rescue of a wounded officer. When he was borne to the hospital tent he declined the surgeon's assistance, bidding him go to those whom his services could benefit, since his own life could not be saved. He was a youth of much promise, possessing remarkable natural endowments and many accomplishments. See the memoir by his mother mentioned above.

NOTE: Judge v. Justice: Trial and intermediate appellate court judges in most states (except New York) and in the federal judicial system are called judges, while those on the highest courts are justices. Therefore Justice Samuel Putnam, of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, is the appropriate title.