He was a private secretary for United States Agent Bancroft Davis of the Joint High Commission in Geneva, Switzerland in 1872.
He was an assistant counsel of the United States for the French-American Claims Commission from 1881 to 1882.
[1] Davis was nominated by President Chester A. Arthur on January 15, 1885, to a seat on the Court of Claims (later the United States Court of Claims) vacated by Judge William Adams Richardson.
He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 20, 1885, and received his commission the same day.
His service terminated on May 5, 1902, due to his death in Washington, D.C.[1] Davis wrote the opinion in Gray v. United States,[2] the lead case settling claims dating from the Quasi-War between the United States and France.