David Brearley (often spelled
Brearly) (
June 11, 1745–
August 16, 1790) was a delegate to the
U.S. Constitutional Convention and signed the
U.S. Constitution on behalf of
New Jersey.
Born in Spring Grove, New Jersey, he was a graduate of the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University. David was 5' 7" tall and weighed 185 lb. He maintained this weight until his retirement, when he gained 20 lb. Upon graduating, he read law and practiced in Allentown, New Jersey and resided in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Brearley was at first a captain in the Monmouth County militia, and rose to the rank of colonel in Nathaniel Heard's New Jersey militia brigade. From 1776 to 1779 he served in the New Jersey Line of the Continental Army, seeing action at Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth.
Brearley resigned from the army in 1779 to serve as the New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice. He decided on the famous Holmes v. Walton case where he ruled that the judiciary had the authority to declare whether laws were unconstitutional or not. He held the seat until 1789.
