David Howell

U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island district Appointed by James Madison (Democratic-Republican) 1 signed orders read

How Judge Howell decides

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

What persuades

Howell treated an enemy-issued license and evidence of an intended supply voyage as sufficient grounds to condemn the vessel and cargo as prize.

“The official papers explicitly stated the intention to be a supply of the British West India islands, although the ship’s papers purported a voyage to a neutral port.”

Procedural preferences

After hearing the claimants' counsel, Howell found the libellants' position sufficiently established to enter judgment without further argument.

“Mr. Robins, United States’ district attorney, was about to begin, when the court superseded an argument on his part, by pronouncing judgment, condemning the ship and cargo to the captors.”

Signed rulings

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

The Aurora
· 1813-02-04
Libel for prize condemnation (libellants) Granted

“the court superseded an argument on his part, by pronouncing judgment, condemning the ship and cargo to the captors.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

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

Put Judge Howell's record to work

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

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