Fuller, Melville Weston (redirected from Melville Weston Fuller)

Fuller, Melville Weston, 1833–1910, American jurist, 8th Chief Justice of the United States (1888–1910), b. Augusta, Maine. He studied at Harvard law school, and after 1856 he became a prominent lawyer in Chicago and acquired a national reputation in Democratic politics. Fuller was appointed Chief Justice by President Cleveland. In his opinions he leaned toward strict construction of the Constitution. He also served as a commissioner to help settle the Venezuela Boundary Dispute and was a member (1900–1910) of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Hague Tribunal).