{{Short description|American judge (1802–1881)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}}
'''Seth May''' (July 2, 1802 – September 20, 1881),<ref name="Cleaves">{{cite web|url=http://www.cleaves.org/sjcbios1.htm|title=The Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine, 1820 to 2009|publisher=Nathan & Henry B. Cleaves Law Library|access-date=December 22, 2019}} Citing ''In Memoriam Seth May'', 74 ME 601.</ref> was a Maine attorney who served as a justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court from May 6, 1855 to May 7, 1862.<ref name="Cleaves"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://legislature.maine.gov/lawlibrary/maine-supreme-court-chief-and-associate-justices/9284/|title=Maine Supreme Court Chief and Associate Justices|publisher=Maine State Legislature|access-date=December 24, 2019}}</ref>
Born in Winthrop, Maine, May attended the Monmouth Academy and the Hallowell Academy, and "began his career as an accountant",<ref name="Cleaves"/> but was unhappy with his employment, and therefore read law to gain admission to the bar in 1831.<ref name="MA">Maine Genealogy Archives, [https://archives.mainegenealogy.net/2008/05/maine-supreme-judicial-court-justices.html Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justices, 1820-1920].</ref> May entered the practice of law in Winthrop that year, and remained in private practice until 1855.<ref name="Cleaves"/>
On May 6, 1855, May was appointed by Governor Anson Morrill as an associate justice of the state supreme court,<ref name="MA"/> to a seat newly created by the legislature in the previous session.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-advertiser-democrat-new-judge-of-the/185784863/|title=New Judge of the Supreme Court|date=May 11, 1855|pages=2|work=The Norway, Maine Advertiser-Democrat|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1861, May coauthored a ruling on fugitive slaves, holding that the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was unconstitutional, and that the state of Maine had the right to protect alleged fugitive slaves through its own personal liberty laws.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://digitalmaine.com/early_aa_history_me/71|title=1861 Supreme Court Opinion of Justices May and Goodenow Regarding Fugitive Slaves|date=February 21, 1861|journal=1764-1865}}</ref> He retired from the bench on May 6, 1862,<ref name="MA"/> and returned to private practice, also serving as a Referee in Bankruptcy from 1867 to 1873.<ref name="Cleaves"/>
He died at Auburn, Maine, at the age of 79.<ref name="Cleaves"/><ref name="MA"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court |before=Newly established seat |after=Charles W. Walton |years=1855–1862}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Seth}} Category:1802 births Category:1881 deaths Category:People from Winthrop, Maine Category:U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Category:Justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court
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