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Benjamin Chew (November 19, 1722 – January 20, 1810) 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 (1702–1775) and his brother Richard Penn Sr. (1706–1771), and their sons Governor John Penn (1729–1795), Richard Penn Jr. (1734–1811), and John Penn (1760–1834). 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." Chew lived and practiced law in Philadelphia four blocks from the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), and provided pro bono his knowledge of substantive law to America's Founding Fathers during the creation of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
