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Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: August 1841- March 1849, August 1851-January 1862
Judge William Scott was born June 7, 1804, in Warrenton, Virginia.[i] In Virginia, Scott lived out his childhood and was educated in law.[ii] He was admitted to the bar in Virginia and moved to Missouri.[iii] He settled in Old Franklin in 1827.[iv] He lived in Old Franklin for a few years before he moved to Jefferson City.[v]
In Jefferson City, he established a law practice and kept the books of the state treasurer.[vi] Scott was appointed as the circuit attorney for the judicial circuit east of Jefferson City, so in 1834, he moved to Union, Missouri. [vii] In 1835, he was appointed judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit.[viii] Judge Scott was appointed, after the resignation of Judge McGirk in August 1841, to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of Missouri.[ix]
Scott accepted the appointment and moved to Jefferson City.[x] He remained on the bench until March 7, 1849, when the bench was cleared due to the Amendment of 1848, limiting the service of judges to 12 years.[xi] During the August 1851 election, he was elected to serve once again on the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xii] During his time with the Supreme Court of Missouri, Judge Scott heard and wrote the majority opinion in the Dred Scott Case.[xiii] His term was impacted by the 1861 constitutional amendment, passed during the state convention during the Civil War, that cleared the bench and required a loyalty oath.[xiv] Scott sat with the Court during the spring term of 1861 but had to return home due to illness.[xv] Governor Hamilton Gamble filled Scott’s vacancy in January 1862.[xvi]
Scott died May 15, 1862, at his farm near Jefferson City.[xvii]
[i] L.C. Krauthoff, “The Supreme Court of Missouri” Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, Vol. III, (Boston, MA: Boston Book Co, 1891), 171.
[ii] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 171.
[iii] Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, 171.
[iv] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 171.
[v] Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, 171.
[vi] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 171.
[vii] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 171.
[viii] Howard L. Conard, ed. “Scott, William,” Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. V, (St. Louis, MO: The Southern History Co., 1901), 539.
[ix] Howard L. Conard, ed. Encyclopedia of Missouri History, 539.
[x] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri (St. Louis, MO: F. H. Thomas and Company, 1878), 325.
[xi] William A. Robards, Reports of Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. XII (Jefferson City, MO: James Lusk, Public Printer, 1849), 2. Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 172. See also: Missouri Historical Review, No, 35, 1940-1941, 336. See also William Francis English, Pioneer Lawyer and Jurist in Missouri (Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri Studies, 1947), 85.
[xii] Supreme Court of Missouri Special Session, In the Matter of the Presentation of the Portrait of the Honorable James Harvey Birch (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1961), 8. Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 172.
[xiii] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 172.
[xiv] Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri Vol. XXXI (St. Louis, MO: George Knapp & Co., 1862), preface. See also Howard L. Conard, ed. Encyclopedia of Missouri History, 539. See also Kenneth H. Winn, Missouri Law and the American Conscience: Historic Rights & Wrongs (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2016), 91.
[xv] Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. XXXI (St. Louis, MO: George Knapp & Co., 1862), 418. See also “Death of Judge Scott,” Weekly California News, California, Missouri, Saturday, May 24, 1862, page 2, column 1. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed July 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/.
[xvi] “Supreme Court,” Columbia Statesman, Columbia, Missouri, Tuesday, January 24, 1862, page 2, column 3. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed July 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/.
[xvii] “Death of Judge Scott,” The Macon Gazette, Macon City, Missouri, Wednesday, May 21, 1862, page 3, column 2. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed July 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri Vol. XXXI (St Louis, MO: George Knapp & Co., 1862), 417. See also Howard L. Conard, ed. Encyclopedia of Missouri History, 539.
Biographical information authored by Mr. Matt Orf, 2017, University of Missouri.