Joseph Hazard (May 21, 1728 – April 31, 1790)[1] was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court from May 1786 to May 1787, succeeding Peter Phillips in the office.
In 1770, he and Stephen Hopkins formed a committee to examine a complaint of the Collector and Comptroller of the Port of Newport.
[1][3]Hazard was on the court when the Rhode Island General Assembly enacted the "Paper Money Laws" of 1786, and was one of the paper-money party.
The General Assembly ordered the Court to be arraigned before them for a contempt of legislative power, and they were required to give their respective reasons for overthrowing the laws of the Legislature that had created them.
When called on to explain his decisions, Hazard rose and said: It gives me pain, that the conduct of the Court seems to have met with the displeasure of the Administration; but their obligations were of too sacred a nature for them to aim at pleasing, but in the line of their duty.