LAW, Jonathan, colonial governor, born in Mil-ford, Connecticut, 6 August, 1674; died 9 November, 1750. He was graduated at Harvard in 1695, studied law, and opened an office in Milford. In 1715 he was appointed a judge of the supreme court of Connecticut, and in 1725 chief justice and lieutenant-governor. In 1741 he was chosen governor, and filled that office till his death. He opposed the preaching of George Whitefield and other revivalists, and signed an act prohibiting any itinerating clergyman or exhorter from preaching in a parish without the express desire of the pastor or people, under which Reverend Samuel Finley and others were driven out as vagrants.--His son, Richard, jurist, born in Milford, Connecticut, 17 March, 1733; died in New London, Connecticut, 26 January, 1806, was graduated at Yale in 1751, studied law with Jared Ingersoll, was admitted to the bar at New Haven in 1754, and practised in New London. He won reputation in his profession, and was appointed a judge of the county court. He sat in the general assembly, was a member of the council from 1776 till 1786, and in 1777-'8 and 1781-'4 was a delegate to the old congress. After the return of peace he and Roger Sherman revised and codified the statute laws of Connecticut. In 1784 he was elevated to the supreme bench of the state, and in May, 1786, was appointed chief justice. On the organization of the Federal Union, President Washington in 1789 appointed him United States district judge for Connecticut, which office he held till his death. He was also mayor of New London from the adoption of the el@ charter in 1784. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Yale in 1802.--Richards son, Lyman, lawyer, born in New London, Connecticut, 19 AUK., 1770; died there, 3 February, 1842, was graduated at Yale in 1791, studied law with his father, and became an eminent counsellor in New London. He was a member of the Connecticut legislature, chosen speaker for one session, and afterward elected to congress as a Federalist, serving from 4 November, 1811, till 3 March, 1817.--Lymans son, John, jurist, born in New London, Connecticut, lit 1796; died in Evansville, Indiana, 7 October, 1873, was graduated at Yale in 1814, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1817, and the same year emigrated to Indiana and began practice at Vincennes. He was elected prosecuting attorney soon after his arrival, and in 1823 was sent to the legislature. He served again as district attorney till 1830, and then for eight years as circuit court judge. In 1838-'42 he was receiver at the land-office in Vincennes. In 1851 he removed to Ewmsville. In 1855-'7 he served as judge of the court of land-claims, which was created for the adjudication of the claims of the early settlers in Indiana and Illinois. He was elected to congress as a Democrat tot two successive terms, serving from 4 July, 1861, till 3 March, 1865. He drew up a bill that was unanimously passed, giving the twelve surviving veterans of the Continental army $100 per annum. He was the attorney of Colonel Vigo in his case against the government, involving a claim for supplies that had been furnished to General George R. Clarke in 1779, which was paid in 1877 after the original claimant and his lawyer were both dead. Judge Law was a student of the local history of the west, and before entering congress was long president of the Indiana historical society. He delivered an address at Vincennes in 1839 on the early history of that place, which was published at the time and reissued in an enlarged form under the title of " Colonial History of Vincennes."