Arthur Lewis Brown

U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island district Appointed by Grover Cleveland (Democratic) 23 signed orders read

How Judge Brown decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Brown required clear present ability to comply before using contempt confinement to enforce a turnover order.

“the power to imprison for contempt, which is to be applied only in cases of contumacious resistance to the orders of court.”

In bankruptcy discharge litigation, Brown treated a knowingly false bulk-sale affidavit as conduct that could not defeat statutory creditor protections.

“We cannot permit a bankrupt to repeal this act by a false oath that he has no creditors.”

Brown allowed negligence pleadings to present several connected factual failures as one theory rather than forcing an artificial division.

“The rule against duplicity should not be so applied as to force the pleader to make a fallacious division of an entire group of related facts.”

Procedural preferences

Brown denied preliminary relief when the applicant's underlying rights remained too doubtful for an extraordinary order.

“I am of the opinion that the complainant’s rights are so doubtful that this court would not be justified in granting a preliminary injunction.”

In conspiracy pleading, he distinguished the agreement offense from the completed object crime and did not require every execution detail in the indictment.

“But conspiracy to commit a crime is a different offense from the crime that is the object of the conspiracy”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

In re Nicholson
· 1926-07-09
Petition for review (attaching creditor) Granted

“The order of the referee will be amended, so as to include, not only an allowance of the claim, but an allowance of priority.”

In re Hopkins
· 1926-10-06
Motions to dismiss (creditor) Denied

“The motion of the creditor J. B. W. Greene to dismiss is denied.”

In re William A. Harris Steam Engine Co.
· 1915-06-25
Petition for review (priority claimant) Denied

“The petition for review is dismissed.”

In re Tillinghast
· 1916-06-30
Petition for warrant of removal (United States) Granted

“The petitions for warrants of removal are granted.”

Wachenheimer Bros. v. Lerner
· 1925-11-04
Patent infringement claim (plaintiff) Granted

“I am of the opinion that the patent is valid, and that the claims in suit are infringed by the defendant..”

Papernow v. Standard Oil Co. of New York
· 1915-12-15
Motion for new trial (plaintiffs) Denied

“Petition for new trial denied.”

United States v. Downey
· 1919-04-19
Demurrer (defendants) Denied

“The demurrers of the defendants are respectively overruled.”

Arnold Hoffman & Co. v. Mathieson Alkali Works
· 1920-12-02
Motions to stay (defendant) Denied

“Motion for stay until the termination of litigation between said parties in the state of New York is denied.”

Bannon v. Hennessey
· 1922-05-22
Demurrer (defendant) Granted

“Demurrer sustained.”

United States v. Klein
· 1925-07-23
Objection to fee (criminal defendant) Granted

“I am of the opinion that the objection must be sustained.”

Connolly v. Standard Oil Co.
· 1920-04-16
Motions to remand (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff’s motions to remand, therefore, must be denied.”

Atwood v. Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co.
· 1919-01-13
Motions to dismiss (defendant trustee) Denied

“The motion to dismiss is denied.”

Jurisdictional plea (defendant trustee) Denied

“The defendant’s plea is overruled.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

No case-level electronic docket record survives in the reviewed archive for Brown's tenure, so no caseload mix, duration, or motion-timing summary is available.

Put Judge Brown's record to work

Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Brown actually rules, not a generic AI guess.

Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Brown's own signed orders and cites them.