Judge William Scott was born June 7, 1804, in Warrenton, Virginia. In Virginia, Scott lived out his childhood and was educated in law. He was admitted to the bar in Virginia and later moved to Missouri, settling in Old Franklin in 1827. He lived in Old Franklin for a few years before he moved to Jefferson City. 

In Jefferson City, he established a law practice and kept the books of the state treasurer. Scott was appointed as the circuit attorney for the judicial circuit east of Jefferson City, so in 1834, he moved to Union, Missouri.  In 1835, he was appointed judge of what was then the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Scott was appointed, after the resignation of Judge Mathias McGirk in August 1841, to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of Missouri.

 

Scott accepted the appointment and moved to Jefferson City. 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. 

During the August 1851 election, he was elected to serve once again on the Supreme Court of Missouri. During his time with the Supreme Court of Missouri, Scott heard and wrote the majority opinion in the Dred Scott case. Scott sat with the Court during the spring term of 1861 but had to return home due to illness. His term with the Court ended in December 1861 when he failed to take the new loyalty oath within the designated time required by the October 1861 ordinance, passed during the state convention.

Judge William Scott died May 15, 1862, at his farm near Jefferson City. He was 57 years old.

“Death of Judge Scott,” The Macon Gazette, (Macon City, Missouri), Wednesday, May 21, 1862, page 3, column 2. Information courtesy of the SHSMO Newspaper Database, available from the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed July 2017.

“Death of Judge Scott,” Weekly California News, (California, Missouri), Saturday, May 24, 1862, page 2, column 1. Information courtesy of the SHSMO Newspaper Database, available from the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed July 2017.

Howard L. Conard, ed. “Scott, William,” Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. V, (St. Louis, MO: The Southern History Co., 1901), 539.

Kenneth H. Winn, Missouri Law and the American Conscience: Historic Rights & Wrongs (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2016), 91.

L.C. Krauthoff, “The Supreme Court of Missouri” Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. III, (Boston, MA: Boston Book Co, 1891), 171-172.

Missouri Historical Review, No, 35, 1940-1941, 336.

Ordinances Passed at the Various Sessions of the Missouri State Convention, 1861 & 1862, (St. Louis, MO: George Knapp & Co., Printers and Binders, 1862), 6, information digitized by and available on Hathitrust.org website, accessed October 29, 2021.

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, 417-418.

“Supreme Court,” Columbia Statesman, (Columbia, Missouri), Tuesday, January 24, 1862, page 2, column 3. Information courtesy of the SHSMO Newspaper Database, available from the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed July 2017.

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.

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.

William Francis English, Pioneer Lawyer and Jurist in Missouri, (Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri Studies, 1947), 85.

William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, (St. Louis, MO: F. H. Thomas and Company, 1878), 325.