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Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1903 – October 1910
Judge James D. Fox was born January 23, 1847, in Fredericktown, Missouri. He was educated in the public schools of Fredericktown and attended Saint Louis University from 1864 to 1865. He was admitted to the bar in Fredericktown in 1866.
Fox studied law at his father’s law firm and had a private legal practice in Fredericktown. His father, David M. Fox, was his opposing counsel in both the first case in which he participated, before a justice of the peace, and with his first case before the circuit court.
In 1880, voters elected him as a judge of what was then the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, later known as the Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit. He was reelected in 1886, 1892 and 1898. During his service as a circuit judge, he attended the first meeting of the Conference of Judges in Missouri, which took place September 14, 1882, in St. Louis. Fox was elected and reelected as president of the Conferences of Judges in Missouri and served in that capacity for several years.
In November 1902, voters elected Fox to the Supreme Court of Missouri for a 10-year term beginning January 1, 1903. In April 1905, Fox was chosen as a member of the Supreme Court Building Commission, responsible for overseeing the construction of the Supreme Court of Missouri’s new building (the current building) in Jefferson City.
Fox was elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri on May 2, 1910, serving in that capacity until his death October 7, 1910, in St. Louis. He was 63 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
Alexander A. Lesueur, compiler, Alexander A. Lesueur, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1899-1900, (Jefferson City, MO: Tribune Printing Company, State Printers and Binders, 1900), 512.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1901-1910, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1910), 199.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, “In Memoriam,” Official Manual of the State of Missouri For the Years 1911-1912, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1912), 71.
“Fox and Marshall Supreme Court Building Commission,” The Butler Weekly Times, (Butler, Missouri), April 6, 1905, information courtesy of the Library of Congress, Chronicling America, Historic American Newspapers, accessed April 25, 2024.
Howard L. Conrad, ed., “Fox, James D.,” Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, A Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference, vol. ii, (St. Louis, MO: The Southern History Company, 1901), 503, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 25, 2024.
“James D. Fox,” Missouri State Board of Health, Certificate of Death, filed October, 1910, Missouri Death Certificates Database, 1910-1973, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 25, 2024.
“Judge James D. Fox Chief Justice Dead,” Mexico Weekly Ledger, (Mexico, Missouri), October 13, 1910, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 25, 2024.
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), 62.
“Judge James D. Fox Dies in St. Louis,” Columbia Missourian, (Columbia, Missouri), October 1, 1910, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 25, 2024.
“Judge James D. Fox Dies in St. Louis,” Columbia Missourian, (Columbia, Missouri), October 7, 1910, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed April 25, 2024.
Michael K. McGrath, Secretary of State, 3rd issue, Official Directory of Missouri, For 1881, (St. Louis, MO: John J. Daly & Co., Stationers and Printers, 1881, 143, information courtesy of the Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri Secretary of State website, accessed April 25, 2024.
“Missouri,” The American Lawyer, (New York, NY: S.S. Peloubet Law Publisher, 1893), 20-21, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 25, 2024.
Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between December 27, 1910, and February 28, 1911, vol. 232, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publisher, 1911), iv.
Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between May 13, and June 14, 1910, vol. 228, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publisher, 1910), iii.
Smith & Purcell, The Democrat-News, (Fredericktown, Missouri), November 7, 1902, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed April 25, 2024.
William Fanning, “Historical Sketch of the St. Louis University, 1818-1908), Bulletin of the St. Louis University, vol. iv, no. 4, 1908), 50, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 25, 2024.