Richard Peters (Supreme Court)

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Richard Peters, Jr. (August 17, 1780-May 2, 1848) was the fourth reporter of decisions of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1828 to 1843.

He was born in Belmont, Pennsylvania. When he took the post, he condensed the reports of his three predecessors, eliminating the arguments of counsel, annotations, and other material, thus reducing twenty-four volumes into six. His immediate predecessor Henry Wheaton sued, and the Supreme Court rejected Wheaton's claim to a common-law copyright in his own reports in the first landmark case in American copyright law, Wheaton v. Peters. The Court dismissed Peters in 1843 because of the questionable "accuracy and fidelity" of his reports and his having offended several of the justices. He died in Belmont, Pennsylvania.

Preceded by Henry Wheaton

Supreme Court of the United States Reporter of Decisions 1828 – 1843

Succeeded by Benjamin Chew Howard