Matthews, Stanley (1824–1889)

US jurist. Appointed by President Garfield as associate justice of the US Supreme Court 1881–99, his most important decision, Hurtado v. California (1888), was an important constitutional definition of due process of law.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Matthews graduated from Kenyon College and studied law in Cincinnati. He served in the Ohio Senate 1855–57 and as a US attorney for the southern district of Ohio 1858–61. After the American Civil War (1861–65), he sat as a judge of the Cincinnati Superior Court and then returned to private practice.