McCURDY, Charles Johnson, jurist, born in Lyme, Connecticut, 7 December, 1797. He was graduated at Yale in 1817, studied law with Zephaniah Swift, became eminent as a counsellor, and was for many years a member of either the upper or lower house of the legislature, and for three sessions speaker. He was lieutenant-governor in 1847-'8, and originated the law allowing parties to testify in their own suits. He was charge d'affaires at Vienna from 1850 till 1852. He was appointed a judge of the superior court of Connecticut in 1856, and was subsequently a judge on the supreme court bench until his retirement in 1867. Judge McCurdy was an active member of the peace congress in 1861. He was given the degree of LL.D. by Yale in 1868.