More than 275 years ago, a young George Washington put pen to paper to copy down 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior. Found in a copy book, the original source of these rules remains unsettled, although scholars note the similarity with a French Jesuit work on etiquette for young men originally published in the 16th century. These rules provided not only a critical penmanship exercise for young Washington but were also arguably formative to the development of our first president's character, accidently or not. Indeed, Richard Brookhiser, in his preface to a more recent publication, posits that the rules helped "form the inner man (or boy) by shaping the outer" (Brookhiser, Richard, Introduction, Rules of Civility: the 110 Precepts that Guided Our First President in War and Peace by George Washington, University of Virginia Press 2003. pp 1, 4).

The content of Washington's writing exercise, viewed through today's eyes, is at times humorously antiquateds—it has been a while, I would suspect, since we needed a reminder to "cleanse not [our] teeth with the table cloth" (Rule 100) or a warning that "he that makes too much haste to put on his hat does not well" (Rule 27). Nevertheless, many, if not most, of these maxims retain their usefulness today. Indeed, as an appellate court justice, I am admittedly partial to Rule 35, "[l]et your discourse … be short and comprehensive." But most saliently, to my mind, these seemingly inconsequential rules of etiquette are more than just directions on table manners or an insight into the shaping of one of our founders, they also reflect basic tenets of community that continue to resonate today. Indeed, as Brookhiser notes, these rules indirectly reflect issues of morality that warrant continued consideration (Brookhiser, Introduction, pp. 9).

Portrait of George Washington, 1732-1799, left, painted by Gilbert Stuart, published at the Albion Office in 1844, and "Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation," published in 1888. Photos: Library of Congress