THE GREAT LEGAL HISTORY OF BOSTON (cont.)

6. Julia Ward Howe The home of Julia Ward Howe is at 32 Mt. Vernon Street where she lived in the 1870s. Author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and wife of the philanthropist and educator, Samuel Gridley Howe, she was an outspoken feminist, abolitionist, suffragist, poet, humanitarian and reformer.   7. Lemuel Shaw Lemuel Shaw, one of Massachusetts' most influential judges, lived at 49 Mt. Vernon Street in the 1830s. Shaw authored the Charter of the City of Boston, dated March 4, 1822. As Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, he wrote the unanimous opinion of the court in Commonwealth v. Aves, 35 Mass. (18 Pick.) 193 (1836), stating that "slavery was contrary to natural right," and that a slave brought into Massachusetts could not be forcibly detained or removed. "In a bar which included Dexter, Sullivan, Prescott, Webster, Curtis and Fletcher, perhaps as great lawyers as ever met in a single small city in this country, he stood among them at the very top." 3 Lewis, Great American Lawyers 466-67 (1907 - 1909). 8. Jonathan Mason The buildings at 51, 53, 55 and 57 Mt. Vernon Street -- 55 and 57 are still standing -- were built for attorney Jonathan Mason. Why are the unlucky one-story residences at 50-60 Mt. Vernon Street facing a row of tall and stately neighbors? The owners at the top of the hill have enforced a restrictive covenant limiting the height of any structures that could obstruct their view of the Boston Common and Back Bay.   9. Justice Horace Gray Justice Horace Gray lived at 79 Mt. Vernon Street during the years he served on the Massachusetts Supreme Court. In 1832, he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I am a Massachusetts man," he said. I have always been, I always expect to be." He may have been the first judge to employ law clerks (out of his own pocket), among them future Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis.   10. Louisburg Square Louisburg Square, still pronounced by its denizens "Lewisberg," was planned in 1826 as a garden square in the English manner, but the lots were sold and developed separately. In 1844, the proprietors of Louisburg Square met at No. 19 to ensure preservation of the Square through developing what has come to be the prototype of civic organizations throughout the country.