Personal injury law in most circumstances is the law determined by a state’s courts and its legislature. A first year torts’ textbook will have very few, if any, United States Supreme Court decisions. Rather, the decisions it includes will be those of the state appellate courts. In the case of Massachusetts, it is the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court. As a result, the most important Marshall is Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. And yet, the Marshall most lay people would think of as a judge is the esteemed Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African-American Justice of the United States Supreme Court and, prior to that, Chief Counsel for the NAACP. Another legal titan named Marshall was Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Marshall. Chief Justice Marshall introduced the notion of judicial review of legislative acts. The tension between the branches of government was evident when President Andrew Jackson allegedly said of John Marshall, “[he] has made his decision now let him enforce it.”
All three have a role in shaping our legal culture. When it comes to determining what the law is in a personal injury action, look to the Massachusetts Marshall.