Daniel Agnew, a citizen of Beaver, became Beaver County's only member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Upon his retirement as Chief Justice of that Court, the Bar of Allegheny County honored him with a complimentary banquet. The Chairman on that occasion claimed him as a Pittsburgher, saying that his father, James Agnew, had practiced his profession of Medical Doctor there and that his son, Daniel, spent his youthful years, was educated, studied for his profession and laid the foundation of his life in Pittsburgh; that Allegheny County loaned him to Beaver, but that he returned as a Justice of the State SupremeCourt. He was also honored by Washington College and by Dickenson College with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
Daniel Agnew was not a native of Pittsburgh. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1808.
In the early years of the century his mother's brother, Charles Howell, became a planter in Mississippi. Daniel's father followed his uncle to that state but returned to New Jersey in 1813, then left for what we now know as Zelienople, where he resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1817 he moved to Pittsburgh so that his sons could attend school and later, the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh.
Judge Agnew is reported to have said that, had his father remained in Mississippi, he would have been a rebel instead of a Union man.
His cousin, Varina Howell, married Jefferson Davis. When Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederacy, Daniel Agnew was the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.
Daniel Agnew Graduated from the Western University of Pennsylvania with the class of 1825. He studied law with Henry Baldwin who was later a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and with W.W. Fetterman, a prominent Pittsburgh lawyer. He was admitted to the Bar in Allegheny County in 1829. Clients being few, he came to Beaver in August of that year. Here clients soon began to come to him. In July, 183 1, he married Miss Elizabeth Moore, the daughter of Robert Moore, a Beaver lawyer and Congressman. His marriage prompted his decision to make his home in Beaver.
In 1837-38 he was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention which amended the Constitution of 1790. He took an active part in the deliberations of the Convention.
In 1851 he was appointed President Judge of the 17th Judicial District which at that time comprised the counties of Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, and Mercer. As Judge of this Judicial District his salary was $1600.00 a year. Time and inflation have increased the Judge's salary to bounds that would have astounded him, while the Judicial District has been reduced to Beaver County alone. In Butler County it was commonly said: "Judge Agnew is law enough for us."
In 1863 he became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. As a member of that court he was preeminent. He served on that court for 15 years. His decisions are found in 44 volumes of the State Reports.
At the time of his retirement from the State Court it was said of his opinions that the lawyer and the student would have a formidable compilation of the law on almost every conceivable subject.
Among his opinions that have become leading cases are Commonwealth versus Drum (58 Pa. 9) in which he set forth the principles of law in homicide trials. This case has been the guide and framework of charges to the jury in murder cases throughout the State, in other States and in U.S. District Courts. Another leading case, known as the Legal Tender Case, involving the constitutionality of an Act of Congress in which treasury notes - called greenbacks - were issued and made legal tender. In a Butler County case he upheld the constitutionality of that Act. The question came before the State Supreme Court when he was a Justice of that Court and the Act, following Judge Agnew's reasoning, was upheld. Justice Strong, a colleague of Judge Agnew on the State Court, became a member of the Supreme Court of the United States. When the question came before that Court, the constitutionality was again upheld.
Judge Agnew was the first Judge in Pennsylvania to change the rule that jurors who had formed opinions in capital cases could still serve, if their opinions 'were not so fixed but that they could still try the prisoner on the evidence. In a murder case decided when he was Chief Justice of the State Court he laid down the rules governing the plea of insanity as a defense, holding that the defendant must satisfy the jury that he was insane at the time of the murder.
After fifteen years on the State Supreme Court and at that time the Chief Justice, he retired and returned to Beaver. Although he generally refused a law practice, he was compelled to take a few cases.
During his period of retirement he published numerous historical booklets, such as "Logstown"; "Early Memories of Methodism in Beaver and Vicinity."; "Fort Pitt and its Times"; "Fort McIntosh and its Times"; "Kaskaskunk, the Great Delaware Town". And, being an authority on land titles, he published a book on a subject of interest and aid of lawyers: "Settlement and Titles Northwestern Pennsylvania."
He wrote articles on tariffs during the Bryan-McKinley campaign and took part in local affairs.
By an Act of the Legislature on March 17, 1867, the sale of intoxicating liquors in the town of Beaver was prohibited. He wrote about and vigorously opposed the attempts to repeal this Act and addressed the State Legislature on this subject and in 1897 the attempt to repeal failed.
He died in March 1902 at the age of 94. Judge and Mrs. Agnew were the parents of 5 children, 3 daughters and 2 sons. The eldest daughter married Col. John M. Sullivan. One daughter married Judge Henry Hice of Beaver and another married the Rev. Walter Brown of Beaver. His son, Frank H. Agnew, became a lawyer at the Beaver Bar and Robert M. Agnew was a member of the bar in Lancaster County.
What Shakespeare wrote of a fictional judge could well have been said of Judge Agnew: