Addison Gardiner

Addison Gardiner (March 19, 1797 in Rindge, Cheshire County, New Hampshire – June 5, 1883 in Rochester, Monroe County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician who was the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1854 to 1855.

He was admitted to the bar in 1822, and began practicing law in Rochester, opening a law firm with Samuel L. Selden, who later became a judge of the New York Court of Appeals. The latter's brother Henry R. Selden, later himself a lieutenant governor and judge of the Court of Appeals, was a law student at this firm. Gardiner was the first Justice of the Peace ever elected in Rochester.

In 1825, Gardiner was appointed District Attorney of Monroe County. From 1829 to 1838, he was Judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of New York, with jurisdiction over the counties of Allegany, Erie, Chautauqua, Monroe, Genesee and Niagara. The Anti-Masonic excitement, growing out of the disappearance of William Morgan, had now commenced, and perhaps the most important case that came before Judge Gardiner, while on the bench of the circuit court, was that against Elihu Mather who was tried for conspiracy in the abduction of Morgan. After the acquittal of the defendant, a motion for a new trial was made in the New York State Supreme Court. The case is to be found in the fourth volume of Wendell's reports, page 220. The head notes, giving the disposition of the various questions raised, occupy four pages. On many of the points it has ever been a leading case. All the rulings of the judge were sustained by the Supreme Court, and these, and other decisions, gave him the reputation of the model circuit judge. He resigned his judicial office in February 1838, and returned to the practice of law at Rochester.

...
Wikipedia