Judge Ernest Moss Tipton



Home County: Jackson

Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1933 – February 1955

 

Ernest Moss Tipton was born on January 2, 1889, in Bowling Green, Missouri.[i] He was educated in the public schools of Columbia, Missouri, before attending the University of Missouri Law School. Here he received his LL.B. degree of law.[ii]

 

Tipton was admitted to the bar in 1911 and began a private practice in Fulton, Missouri.[iii] He then moved his practice to Kansas City, Missouri, where he acted as a member of the Missouri State Board of Bar Examiners from 1923 to 1930.[iv]

 

On November 8, 1932, Tipton was elected to serve a ten year term on the Missouri Supreme Court, Division No. 2, which began in January of 1933.[v] He was reelected for another ten-year term in 1942, and again in 1952 for a twelve-year term.[vi] Judge Tipton served three terms as Chief Justice with the Court. His first term was from August 15, 1938[vii] to September 5, 1939,[viii] his second term, from September 9, 1946[ix] to February 14, 1948,[x] and his third term from October 11, 1954[xi] to February 25, 1955.[xii]

 

After 22 years of service on the Supreme Court, the honorable Judge Tipton passed away on February 25, 1955, at age 66, while he was Chief Justice.[xiii] He had just returned to the bench in January from temporary leave after suffering a heart attack the previous April.[xiv] His passing marked the first disjoint in the membership of Division No 2. since 1933, the other two long-standing members being Judge Caleb A. Leedy Jr., and Judge George Robb Ellison. Leedy succeeded Tipton as chief justice, and Ellison announced his retirement soon after.[xv]

 

Upon Tipton’s death, President Truman made a statement in his honor, saying “he was a very fine man and will be missed by the state.” [xvi]


[i] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1933-1934, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1934), 125.

[ii] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1933-1934, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1934), 125.

[iii] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Esther Downs Bishop, ed., Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1949-1950, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing Company, 1950), 213.

[iv] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Esther Downs Bishop, ed., Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1949-1950, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing Company, 1950), 213.

[v] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Esther Downs Bishop, ed., Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1949-1950, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing Company, 1950), 213. See also: John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 332, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1934), iii. 

[vi] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Esther Downs Bishop, ed., Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1949-1950, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing Company, 1950), 213.

[vii] John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 342, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1939), iii.

[viii] John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 345, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1940), title page and iii.

[ix] John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 355, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1947), iii.

[x] John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 357, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1949), ix.

[xi] John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 364, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1955), iii.

[xii] John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 365, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1957), xxi. See also: Boyd F. Carroll, “Ernest M. Tipton, Chief Justice of Missouri Dies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO), February 25, 1955, article courtesy of Newspapers.com, accessed on August 19, 2019, available at; https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23798687/st-louis-post-dispatch/ Copy in permanent file in the Supreme Court Law Library.

[xiii] Jefferson City News and Tribune, Chief Justice Tipton Dies in Kansas City, Jefferson City News and Tribune (Jefferson City, MO), February 25, 1955. Located in permanent file in the Supreme Court Law Library.

[xiv] Boyd F. Carroll, Ernest M. Tipton, Chief Justice of Missouri, Dies, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO), February 25, 1955, article courtesy of Newspapers.com, accessed on August 19, 2019, available at; https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23798687/st-louis-post-dispatch/ Copy in permanent file in the Supreme Court Law Library.

[xv] Boyd F. Carroll, Ernest M. Tipton, Chief Justice of Missouri, Dies, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO), February 25, 1955, article courtesy of Newspapers.com, accessed on August 19, 2019, available at; https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23798687/st-louis-post-dispatch/ Copy in permanent file in the Supreme Court Law Library.

[xvi] Jefferson City News and Tribune, Chief Justice Tipton Dies in Kansas City, (Jefferson City, MO: Jefferson City News and Tribune), February 25, 1955. Located in permanent file in the Supreme Court Law Library.

Biographical information authored by Ms. Anna Theroff, 2019, Washington University – St. Louis, Missouri.

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