Henry Brockholst Livingston served in the Continental Army during the Revolution, participating in the Saratoga campaign before accompanying John Jay on a diplomatic mission to Spain. Returning to New York, he entered legal practice after admission to the bar in 1783. He became a Jeffersonian Republican rather than following many relatives' Federalist allegiance.

Appointed to New York's Supreme Court of Judicature in 1802, Livingston participated vigorously in a court renowned for developing American common law. He frequently disagreed with James Kent and wrote opinions marked by learning and wit. His dissent in Pierson v. Post, the dispute over a hunted fox, preferred a rule reflecting practical expectations among hunters to the majority's stricter requirement of capture. The case became a standard illustration of competing approaches to property law.

Thomas Jefferson gave him a recess appointment to the United States Supreme Court in November 1806. Following Senate confirmation, he took the judicial oath in January 1807 and served until 1823. On the national court his public voice became quieter. Chief Justice John Marshall's practice of issuing a single opinion for the Court encouraged compromise, and Livingston rarely published the separate disagreements that had distinguished his state judicial service.

His work nevertheless extended beyond major constitutional decisions to circuit judging and cases concerning commerce, property, maritime affairs and insolvency. In Sturges v. Crowninshield in 1819, he joined a decision invalidating the retroactive operation of a New York insolvency law despite having defended state authority in related litigation. His accommodation of national judicial practice shows why party labels alone do not explain the Marshall Court's decisions. Livingston died in office in March 1823, after sixteen years of federal service. His reputation combines a rich state-court record with a less conspicuous contribution to Supreme Court cohesion.