James substantially contributed to the
Revised Statutes of the United States during the 1870s. He was appointed by President
Andrew Johnson in 1866 and re-appointed by President
Ulysses S. Grant in 1870 as one of three commissioners tasked to revise and consolidate existing federal statutes. The first edition of the
Revised Statutes was adopted by Congress in 1874. In 1877, commissioner
George S. Boutwell prepared the second edition of the
Revised Statutes with the assistance of James. James appears to have been the only person to have worked on both the first and second editions of the
Revised Statutes. ==Federal judicial service==