Home County: St. Louis City

Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri:  October 1919 - December 1920

Judge Richard Livingston Goode was born February 4, 1855, in Campbellsburg, Henry County, Kentucky. As a young man, in 1868, Goode came with his parents to Missouri. Goode graduated in June 1876 from Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, with a bachelor of arts degree. Goode later received his master of arts and doctor of letters of law degrees. In June 1879, Goode was admitted to the state bar, having studied law with attorney Colonel Jerry Cravens. Goode was  a partner in a law practice with Cravens, known as Cravens & Goode, for approximately 20 years. Goode had also served as city attorney of Springfield.

Goode was elected in November 1900 to the St. Louis Court of Appeals for a term expiring December 31, 1912. He sat with the St. Louis Court of Appeals until 1910, when he stepped down from the court to become counsel for the Mercantile Trust Company of St. Louis. He was counsel there for 4.5 years. From 1906 to 1910, Goode also served as a professor of equity at Washington University School of Law. He later was appointed as dean of Washington University Law School, serving from July 1915 until he joined the Supreme Court of Missouri. 

On October 23, 1919, then-Governor Gardner appointed Goode to the Supreme Court of Missouri to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Henry W. Bond. Goode served with the Court until December 31, 1920, when he returned to St. Louis as dean of the law faculty at Washington University. After he retired in July 1926, he was appointed dean emeritus at Washington University. 

Judge Richard Goode died March 4, 1927, at the age of 72 in St. Louis city.

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Biographical information authored by Mr. Michael Patton, 2022, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri. 

Sources used (please note a copy of each is located on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):

“Col. J.C. Cravens,” Pictorial and Genealogical Record of Greene County, Missouri, 1893; Together with Bibliographies of Prominent Men of Other Portions of the State, Both Living and Dead, Springfield-Greene County Library website, accessed April 12, 2022.

“Goode resigns From Bench of Appellate Court,”  St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri), August 26, 1910, information courtesy of ProQuest Historical Newspapers: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Database, accessed April 11, 2022.

“The Governor Names Two For Supreme Bench,”  Poplar Bluff Republican (Poplar Bluff, Missouri), October 23, 1919, information courtesy of The State Historical Society of Missouri’s Digital Newspaper Project, accessed April 11, 2022.

G.R. Throop, ed., “University Notes,” Washington University Record, series i, vol. x, no. 1, November 1914, (St. Louis, MO: Washington University Press, 1914), 14, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 12, 2022.

John L. Sullivan, compiler, John L. Sullivan, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1919-1920, (Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Secretary of State’s Office), 1920), 105, information courtesy of Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 11, 2022.

John E. Swanger, compiler, John E. Swanger, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1907-1908, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1908), 63, information courtesy of Missouri Digital Heritage website Missouri State Archives, accessed April 11, 2022.

“Notes,” in North T. Gentry, “Opinion of the Attorney General As to When the Workmen’s Compensation Law Takes Effect,” St. Louis Law Review, vol. 12, issue 1 (1916), 55, information courtesy of Washington University Law Review website, accessed April 12, 2022.

Perry S. Rader, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 279, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1919), iii. Publication located in the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.

Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 286, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1922), iii.  Publication located in the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.

“Richard L. Goode,” Missouri State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death, Missouri State Death Certificates Database, 1910-1971, information courtesy of the Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 11, 2022.

“R.L. Goode,” Pictorial and Genealogical Record of Greene County, Missouri, 1893; Together with Bibliographies of Prominent Men of Other Portions of the State, Both Living and Dead, Springfield-Greene County Library website, accessed April 12, 2022.

Sam B. Cook, compiler, Sam B. Cook, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1901-1902, (Jefferson City, MO: Tribune Printing Company, State Printers and Binders, 1902), 468, information courtesy of Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 11, 2022.

The Walnut Gove Tribune, (Walnut Grove, Missouri), March 3, 1915, information courtesy of The State Historical Society of Missouri’s Digital Newspaper Project, accessed April 11, 2022.