Chew, Benjamin

Chew, Benjamin, 1722–1810, American public official and judge, b. Anne Arundel co., Md. He read law in Philadelphia under Andrew Hamilton and was admitted (1746) to the bar. After practicing law at New Castle and Dover, Del., Chew returned to Philadelphia, where he held several public offices and was attorney general (1755–69). He was chief justice of the Pennsylvania supreme court from 1774 until the outbreak of the American Revolution, when he was suspected of Loyalist sympathies. He was arrested but was discharged soon afterward. He later served (1791–1808) as president of the high court of errors and appeals of Pennsylvania.

Bibliography

See biography by B. A. Konkle (1932).