Naming the James Kent American Inn of Court

The James Kent American Inn of Court was named after James Kent, an American jurist and legal scholar who was, among other things, the first professor of law at Columbia College in 1793, the Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court, and the Chancellor of New York. He authored Commentaries on American Law—a four-volume set highly respected in England and America that addressed state, federal, and international law, as well as the law of personal rights and of property—which went through six editions in Kent’s lifetime. Kent perhaps rendered his most essential service to American jurisprudence while serving as Chancellor. Chancery, or equity law, had been very unpopular during the Colonial Period and had received little development, and no equity decisions had been published. His judgments as Chancellor covered a wide range of topics and are so thoroughly considered and developed that they unquestionably form the basis of American equity jurisprudence.

The Chancellor Kent Professorship at Columbia Law School is named after James Kent, as is Kent Hall, which was built for Columbia Law School. Additionally, students who have high honors status during any one of their years at Columbia Law School are referred to as James Kent Scholars in honor of James Kent's status as Columbia’s first professor of law.

J. Nelson Happy, Esquire, Dean of Regent University School of Law from 1993 to 1999 and an alumnus of Columbia Law School, heard about the American Inns of Court program while attending an American Bar Association meeting and was intrigued. He thought that an Inn affiliated with the law school would be an excellent opportunity to integrate the law school with the local bench and bar, and he therefore pursued forming an American Inn of Court. When it came time to propose a name for the Inn, he reflected on his days at Columbia Law School and suggested it be named after James Kent. The “James Kent American Inn of Court” was officially chartered as the 238th American Inn of Court on September 30, 1994.