David McDonald

(May 4, 1803-Aug. 25, 1869). Attorney, judge, and legal educator, David McDonald was born in Kentucky. He moved with his family to Daviess County, Indiana, in 1817. Despite receiving only a grammar school education, he was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1830 after reading law for two years.

McDonald represented Daviess County in the Indiana General Assembly in 1833 and then served as prosecuting attorney for the 7^th judicial district (1834-1837). Two years later, he became circuit judge for the 19^th judicial court, a position he held for two terms. In 1842, while residing in Bloomington, McDonald was appointed professor of law at the Indiana University Law School founding and served as the School’s only faculty member until 1847. In 1852, he ran on the Whig party ticket as a candidate for the state Supreme Court. He lost the election but received 5,000 more votes than any other Whig candidate.

In 1854, McDonald moved to Indianapolis to practice in the federal courts. Shortly after his arrival, he joined old friend Albert G. Porter and announced McDonald and Porter’s firm. In 1856, he published what became known as Mcdonald’s Treatise, a large volume designed to provide constables, justices of the peace, and other inferior officers with a guide to the performance of their duties. The Treatise proved valuable to lawyers as well and ran through many editions under different editors. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed McDonald as judge of the federal district court, a position he still held at the time of his death.

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