John B. Minor was born in Louisa County, Virginia on June 2, 1813 to Launcelot and Elizabeth Minor. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1834 with a Bachelor of Law degree. Minor began to practice law at Buchanan, in Botetourt County, and after six years moved to Charlottesville, where he formed a partnership with his brother Lucian, who later became Professor of Law at William and Mary. In 1845, at age thirty-two, Minor was appointed Chair of Law at the University of Virginia, succeeding H. St. George Tucker, and remained the sole instructor of law in that department until 1851. Upon the appointment of James P. Holcombe as Adjunct Professor of Law, Minor's subjects became Common and Statute Law, in both of which he became an authority. In 1870 the professor began a summer course of law lectures, and his is believed to have been the first summer law school in the country. He continued to inspire and impress for fifty years until his death, July 29, 1895.