​KENT, JAMES, an American jurist; born in Philippi, N. Y., July 31, 1763. Author of the famous “Commentaries on American Law” (4 vols. 1826-1830), which holds in this country a position similar to that occupied by Blackstone's “Commentaries” in Great Britain. It contains not only federal jurisprudence, but the municipal law written and unwritten of the several States. He was chief-justice and chancellor of the State of New York. He died in New York, Dec. 12, 1847.