Francis Marion Burdick

Francis Marion Burdick LL.D. (1845–1920) was an American legal scholar.

Francis Marion Burdick
Mayor of Utica, New York
In office 1882–1883
Personal details
Born	(1845-08-01)August 1, 1845 De Ruyter, New York, US
Died	June 3, 1920(1920-06-03) (aged 74) De Ruyter, New York, US
Spouse	Sarah Underhill ​ (m. 1875)​
Children	4
Education	Hamilton College
Occupation	Jurist, politician
Signature

Personal life

Francis Marion Burdick was born at De Ruyter, New York on August 1, 1845.^[1] His parents were Albert G. Burdick and Eunetia Yale Wheeler Burdick.^[2]

On June 8, 1875, he married Sarah Underhill Kellogg, the daughter of Charles C. Kellogg, who founded a Utica lumber company.^[3]

Francis and Sarah were Presbyterians.^[2] They had a son, Charles (1883–1940), who graduated from Columbia Law School in 1908 and became a professor of law at Cornell.^[1][4][5] They also had three daughters: Anna (1877–1960), Katherine (1879–1963), and Flora.^[2]

On June 3, 1920, Francis Marion Burdick died at his home in De Ruyter^[4] while working in his garden.^[2] He had remained academically active up to his death.^[5]

Early career

He attended the De Ruyter Institute and Oneida Conference Seminary in Cazenovia,^[5] and went on to study at Hamilton College with Professor Theodore Dwight. In 1869, he graduated from Hamilton. He briefly taught Greek at Whitestone Seminary and—though personally a Democrat— he wrote editorials for the Utica Morning Herald, a Republican newspaper,^[2] before returning to Hamilton. In 1872, he graduated from the law department.^[1]

Upon receiving his law degree in 1872, he joined the firm of Beardsley, Burdick and Beardsley in Utica, N. Y. The Citizens Party asked him to run for mayor,^[2] and he was elected and held office 1882–1883.^[1]

Later career

Soon after Burdick was elected mayor, Theodore Dwight retired from Hamilton, and Burdick became his successor in the Maynard King professorship of law and history.^[5]

When Cornell University opened its college of law in 1887, Burdick was among the first faculty members.^[5]

In 1895, Hamilton gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws.^[5]

In 1891, he was appointed as a law professor at Columbia University.^[6] The following year, after the death of the school's founder, Theodore Dwight, he became the first professor to hold the chair named after Dwight; he held it from December 5, 1892–June 30, 1916.^[7] Along with George W. Kirchwey, he retired from the faculty of Columbia Law School in 1916, each having completed 25 years.^[8] The Dwight Professorship then passed to Charles T. Terry, who held it until 1922.^[7]

From 1907 until his death, he was a Commissioner on Uniform Laws representing the State of New York.^[5]

He was a member of the Committee of Fourteen in New York City.^[5]

Works

Besides contributing extensively to legal periodicals he published:

• Cases on Torts (1895)
• The Law of Sales (third edition, 1913)
• Cases on Sales (second edition, 1901)
• The Law of Torts (1905, second edition, 1908)
• Law of Partnership (second edition, 1906)
• The Essentials of Business Law (1908)