Benjamin Chew

Who was Benjamin Chew?

Benjamin Chew was a fifth-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, a prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Commonwealth, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania. Chew was well known for his precision and brevity in making legal arguments as well as his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law. His primary allegiance was to the supremacy of law and constitution.

Trained in law at an early age by Andrew Hamilton, Benjamin Chew inherited his mentor's clients, the descendants of William Penn, including Thomas Penn and his brother Richard Penn, Sr., and their sons Governor John Penn, Richard Penn, Jr., and John Penn. The Penn family was the basis of his private practice, and he represented them for six decades.

He had a lifelong personal friendship with George Washington, who is said to have treated Chew’s children “as if they were his own."