American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts

Horace Binney graduated from Harvard in 1797 and was admitted to the bar in 1800. Binney represented several major insurance companies and became an expert on marine insurance and land-title law. Between 1809 and 1814, he published six volumes of court reports of cases heard by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He represented the First and Second Banks of the United States and served in the U.S. House of Representatives, defending the renewel of the charter for the Second Bank of the United States. In Lyle v. Richards (1823), Binney's arguments established the common-law basis of real property in the United States. Binney later successfully opposed Daniel Webster in Vidal v. Philadelphia et al.(1844), affirming the City of Philadelphia's handling of Stephen Girard's estate and its charitable bequest that established Girard College. Binney made many public addresses and published historical sketches on Chief Justice John Marshall. He was twice offered nomination to the Supreme Court, refusing both. Binney served as a charter member to the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Exhibition History: "Portraits of American Law," October 13 1989-January 25, 1990, National Portrait Gallery.

Literature: Biddle & Fielding, The Life and Works of Thomas Sully 1783-1872 (1921), no. 152, p. 102.