David Brearley (often misspelled as Brearly) (June 11, 1745 – August 16, 1790) was an American Founding Father, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, a delegate from New Jersey to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which drafted the United States Constitution, a signer of the United States Constitution, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Born on June 11, 1745, to Mary and David Brearely Sr. (1703–1785) in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, Province of New Jersey, British America,^[1][2] Brearley attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and read law.^[2] He was in private practice in Allentown, New Jersey^[3] until 1776.^[2]

He is interred in the churchyard of Saint Michael's Episcopal Church in Trenton,^[9] and a cenotaph was placed there in 1924.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, Brearley became one of the founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey and served as the state society's vice president from 1783 until his death in 1790.^[10] In 1789, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.^[11]

David Brearley High School in Kenilworth, New Jersey was named in his honor.^[12] Brearly Street in Madison, Wisconsin, is named in his honor.^[13] Brearley Crescent in Waldwick, New Jersey, is named in his honor.^{[citation needed]} Brearley Lodge No.2 Masonic Lodge in Bridgeton, New Jersey, is named in his honor.^{[citation needed]}